‘Gujaratis as ghuspaithiyas’: Cong leader stokes fresh row after Kharge’s ‘illiterates’ jibe
New Delhi: Even before the dust could settle over Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s “Gujaratis as illiterates” swipe, another party leader added to the heated controversy by hurling an “infiltrator’ jibe at them.
The latest name-calling of North Indians, Gujarat residents in particular, came from Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who dubbed the Gujaratis as the “biggest ghuspaithiyas” (infiltrators) and made an appeal to oust them from the poll-bound state.
The 14-second video clip, shared by a well-known handle on X, ‘Political Kida’, is undated and also doesn’t reveal the location of a public rally, but is going viral on social media. It shows the Congress leader heaping scorn on Gujaratis during a political rally, purportedly in the run-up to Assam elections.
Addressing a gathering, Kanhaiya says, “When I was asked by scribes about the infiltrator issue in the Assembly polls, I said – the biggest infiltrator has come from Gujarat. People must throw him outside the state along with Himanta Biswa Sarma.”
Though Kanhaiya didn’t name anyone in particular, his comments, purportedly targeted at BJP leaders from Gujarat, have sparked strong criticism and also a backlash from the netizens.
A couple of social media users, reacting to the video, said that the Congress party is an expert in sabotaging itself. Rather than calling out real infiltrators, they are terming their own citizens as infiltrators, said one user, while another said that this way, the party won’t need any enemies.
Notably, the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants remained at the centre of a high-voltage election campaign in Assam, with the Chief Minister as well as the BJP reiterating how the illegal infiltrators were a threat to the state’s demography.
The uproar over fresh slander against Gujaratis comes close on the heels of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s recent controversial statement, where he, during an election rally, referenced Gujarat residents as “illiterates” who could be fooled around with.
The comments sparked huge furore in the BJP circles, with many demanding not just a rollback but also an apology from the Congress veteran.
Kharge later apologised, possibly fearing a ripple effect in the Assembly elections, and stated that his words were “deliberately misinterpreted.”