New Delhi, Dec 3, 2022: After facing criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over his “Ravan” jibe directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has accused the ruling party of misusing his words for electoral gains in Gujarat, and stressed that politics is not about individuals but policies.
Reacting to the controversy, Kharge noted that he believes in “performance politics”, but the BJP’s style of politics tends to lack the spirit of democracy as “they make it about one person only, who is everywhere”.
Earlier this week, Kharge had said PM Modi asks people to vote “looking at his face” in all elections while speaking at a rally in Ahmedabad. “Are you 100-headed like Ravan?” he had said.
“The BJP’s and PM’s style of politics often does not possess the spirit of democracy. I gave so many examples pertaining to his style of campaigning at all levels of elections, but they are misusing my remark for electoral gains,” Kharge said.
“I don’t comment on any individual or make personal remarks because I also have experience of parliamentary politics for 51 years. My criticism was based on the issues of development, inflation, unemployment, poverty,” he added.
When inquired about the AAP’s aggressive campaign and the party contesting 181 of 182 seats in Gujarat this time, Kharge mentioned that its sole intention was to undermine the Congress. “They are doing propaganda. Our feedback is that they want to disturb the Congress vote. I don’t want to say anything because even if I tell the truth, it will be used as propaganda against Congress. Some people have been sent to contest against Congress to divide the votes. So that is their main purpose. Otherwise, how many booths, how many villages, how many panchayats they have gone to? They have gone to only the cities,” he said.
