New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday held nationwide protests over Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's controversial remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding an apology from him and his party.
Kharge sparked a controversy on Sunday with his "Modi ka baap bhi jayega" remark in response to an audience member's comment that "the prime minister would not go anywhere", during an event in Patna.
Kharge was speaking at the programme to celebrate the 139th birth anniversary of Bihar's first chief minister, Shrikrishna Singh.
In Delhi, BJP leaders and workers staged a protest near Kharge's residence on Rajaji Marg. The protesters were stopped by the police when they tried to march from Sena Bhawan Circle towards his residence.
They raised slogans and demanded an apology from Kharge and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (LoP), Rahul Gandhi.
In Bihar, BJP leaders and supporters, led by state unit president Sanjay Saraogi, took out a 'Jan Akrosh March' from the party headquarters to Dak Bungalow Chauraha in Patna and burnt an effigy of Kharge.
"Yesterday, all limits were crossed when the platform to celebrate the birth anniversary of Shrikrishna Singh, the architect of modern Bihar, was used to make abusive remarks about the late father of the Prime Minister," Saraogi said.
He claimed that the Congress has been facing a "complete rout" in elections, and asked the party and the opposition INDIA bloc to "mend their ways".
In Jammu, BJP workers held a protest at Dogra Chowk under the leadership of party MLA Shagun Parihar and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha's Jammu and Kashmir president Arun Prabhat.
They raised slogans against the Congress and burnt posters of Kharge and Gandhi. According to reports, protests and demonstrations were held in Samba, Kathua, Poonch, Udhampur, Rajouri, Doda, Kishtwar and Reasi districts over the issue.
In Bengaluru, BJP leaders staged a protest at Freedom Park, demanding that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge apologise to the people of the country.
The protesters raised slogans against Kharge, climbed barricades and attempted to march towards Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power.
Police detained several BJP leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka, Legislative Council Opposition leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, Ashwath Narayan, C P Ramamurthy and MLC N Ravikumar, and took them to Upparpet police station.
Protests were also held in other parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Telangana.
In Jharkhand, hundreds of BJP workers and senior leaders of the party, including its state president Aditya Sahu and Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi, marched to the Congress office in Ranchi, raising slogans like ‘Stop abusing the Prime Minister’ and ‘India will not tolerate insults to the Prime Minister’ .
“The Congress and its prominent leaders never let go of any opportunity to abuse our prime minister. Kharge made indecent and offensive remarks against the PM, invoking his late father. His comments have created a furore across the nation,” Sahu said.
