Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticises PM Modi for posting Anurag Thakur's alleged caste remarks

Jul 31, 2024

New Delhi [India] July 31 : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday criticised the post of Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he had shared Anurag Thakur's alleged caste remark on Rahul Gandhi.
"I condemn the tweet of the Prime Minister, PM Modi should know where to speak and who to defend. Leaving that aside, he is talking about inflaming sentiments. This should not be allowed in Parliament."
"This speech by my young and energetic colleague, Shri @ianuragthakur is a must-hear. A perfect mix of facts and humour, exposing the dirty politics of the INDI Alliance." PM Modi posted on X.
On Anurag Thakur's remarks, Kharge said, "He said this purposely to insult him (Rahul Gandhi). This is not right. He (Anurag Thakur) is immature but was there a need for the Prime Minister to tweet?"
"Taunting in the house, this does not happen in Parliament, nobody's caste is asked in Parliament, Several of their leaders are in an intercaste or interfaith marriage. Will they ask about everyone's caste? This is wrong," he said.
Strengthening the Congress' attack on BJP MP Anurag Thakur, MP K Suresh said, "Yesterday Anurag Thakur used many unparliamentary words against Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders. We protested and requested the chair to expunge such words.
"Later, yesterday night the PM tweeted the same expunged words, which is against the rule of the Lok Sabha. We demand an apology from Anurag Thakur... Caste census is our main demand and we also promised it in the elections. If the Congress-led INDIA Alliance comes to power, then we will have the caste census." K Suresh said.
BJP MP Sambit Patra lambasted the Congress saying that the party was needlessly seeing a conspiracy where there was none.
"The number of 99 and the game of arrogance of Congress party. When Anurag Thakur yesterday spoke without naming anyone, why did only one person feel bad, and on his direction, all members of Congress stood up?", Sambit Patra said.
"This is the kind of behaviour that will be shown on asking about one's caste. The caste of media personnel, administrative officers, judges, and also army soldiers can be asked but if someone asks you your caste you start talking." Patra added.
Anurag Thakur on Tuesday entered into a heated argument with Rahul Gandhi during his speech in the Lower House of the parliament, saying that those whose caste is not known are asking for the caste census.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) talks about OBC, he talks about the census, those whose caste is not known are asking for the caste census."
He further added, "In this parliament, a former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi protested against giving the reservation to OBCs"
LoP Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Hamirpur MP, saying "You can insult me every day but keep in mind that the caste census will be passed here (Lok Sabha) one day."