Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to rein in and discipline NDA leaders who made "extremely objectionable, violent and rude” statements targeting Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
Kharge asked Modi to take strict legal action against those giving such statements as he mentioned the remarks by Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, Uttar Pradesh Minister Rahuraj Singh, Delhi BJP leader Tarvinder Singh Marvah and Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad.
In his letter, he said, "I request and expect you to please impose discipline and decorum on your leaders. Instruct them to behave properly. Strict legal action should be taken for such statements so that Indian politics can be prevented from degenerating and nothing untoward happens."
Wishing him on birthday, Kharge told Modi that he wanted to draw the Prime Minister's attention to an issue which is directly related to democracy and the Constitution.
"I have to say with sadness that the violent language used by the leaders of the BJP and your allies is harmful for the future. The world is shocked that the Minister of State for Railways, a minister from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, is calling the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha 'number one terrorist'," Kharge said.
"An MLA from a party that has ties with your government in Maharashtra is announcing a reward of Rs 11 lakh to the person who 'cuts off the tongue of the Leader of the Opposition and brings it to him'. A BJP leader and former MLA in Delhi is threatening to make him 'fate like his grandmother'," Kharge said.
Emphasising that crores of Congress workers and leaders are “very agitated and worried”, he said Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi had to sacrifice their lives due to such hate-mongering forces. This political behaviour of the ruling party is an "example of rudeness in democratic history", he said.