New Delhi, 07 April (H.S.):

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vehemently denounced Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's alleged comments about Gujarat's residents, branding them as highly objectionable.

Senior BJP leader and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, addressing a press conference at the party headquarters on Tuesday, described Kharge's assertion that Gujaratis are illiterate as shameful and utterly reprehensible.

Prasad accused Kharge of abandoning all decorum, highlighting Gujarat's literacy rate of 82 percent, which has seen significant improvements under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership; he demanded an immediate apology to the people of Gujarat.

He questioned the implications of a national party president labelling an entire state illiterate, challenging Kharge: Were icons like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Vikram Sarabhai, and Morarji Desai—born in Gujarat and instrumental in nation-building—also illiterate? Such remarks against the land of great luminaries are profoundly offensive, Prasad asserted, urging Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to clarify their stance.

Prasad further accused Congress of divisive politics, citing Kharge's separate statement in Assam likening the RSS and BJP to a venomous snake that must be killed even during prayer, as per his interpretation of the Quran. He condemned this rhetoric for fomenting communal tension, inciting minorities, and trivialising religious sentiments, calling on Congress leadership—particularly Rahul Gandhi—to disavow it and demand an apology.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar