- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sternly told the Delhi rally crowd to stay quiet
- Kharge said he would speak for an hour if they did not stop the noise
- Kharge partly repeated his comment on PM Modi that has sparked controversy
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was paternally stern with the INDIA bloc rally crowd in Delhi on Sunday, warning that he would keep his speech short only if they quieted down, as they repeated a line he said about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that kicked up a controversy a week ago.
At first, upon his turn, Kharge stood silent on the dais for about 30 seconds as slogans and chants mixed with a string instrument being played loudly. The 84-year-old was not impressed by the high decibel level.
"Dekho, aap agar chup baithenge, main paanch minute mein apna bhashan khatm kar raha hun. Agar chup nahin baithenge, main ek ghanta bhashan karunga (If you stay quiet, I'll finish my speech in five minutes; if you do not stay quiet, I'll speak for an hour)," Kharge told the crowd.
Most slogans slammed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a primary agenda of the rally.
But Kharge was at the centre of a subplot.
"Modi ka baap bhi jayega (Even Modi's father will go)", a small group chanted, repeating the line Kharge used for Prime Minister Narendra Modi that triggered a row a week earlier. The BJP has since taken up "Modi kahin nahin jayega (Modi is not going anywhere)" as a counter-drive.
On Sunday, Kharge spoke for nine minutes during which he echoed his earlier comment, omitting the controversial bit.
"Modi jayega, tabhi loktantra bachega (Modi will go, and democracy will thus survive)," the Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) said in his speech.
What Happened In Patna
When he made the earlier comment about PM Modi in Patna on October 25, the row had followed a misunderstanding.
A man in the audience, Santosh Kumar, was heard saying, "Modi kahin nahin jayega (Modi won't go anywhere)," during Kharge's speech. Kharge retorted, "Modi ka baap bhi jayega," repeating the line thrice. Santosh Kumar, who was beaten and thrown out of the hall by other attendees, later told NDTV he had not been heard in full. "I was actually saying, 'Unless the public revolts, Modi will not go'," he said.
That remark drew a demand for an apology from the BJP, which announced nationwide protests. Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput said Kharge was only using an idiom: "And PM Modi has made much worse comments."
Gyanesh Kumar The Target
On Sunday, the Congress president spoke before Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi, who played a part in the Kharge subplot, holding up a "final boss" placard with his face on it.
In his speech, Gandhi called the 2024 Lok Sabha elections "illegal" and said Gyanesh Kumar would be removed from his post and "go to jail".
The rally, attended by Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, was organised against the CEC and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. It was preceded by a one-and-a-half-kilometre march from the Minto Road-Connaught Place junction to Ramlila Maidan.
The BJP called Sunday's rally a "flop show", saying people left while Gandhi was speaking.
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