TNI @ Parliament | Congress never honoured true patriots, says Lekhi on Kharge’s ‘dog’ comment

| Updated: 21 December, 2022 1:10 am IST

Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi today blasted the Congress for its president Mallkarjun Kharge’s dog. “The present congress is not the Indian National Congress of the freedom movement. And we all know how the freedom fighters had been treated by the Congress because then Congress left the unsung heroes as unsung including INA soldiers and several others who participated in freedom struggle and got life imprisonment in cellular jail while some have been given from jail to attend to the ailing wives, so that they could be taken to Switzerland. The whole country knows those facts,” she said.

Lekhi was referring to Kharge’s claims at a rally in Rajasthan on Monday where he said that while the Congress stood for the country and helped attain Independence after its leaders gave supreme sacrifices, ‘not even a dog of the BJP was lost’ for the country.

Bharatiya Janata Party demanded an apology from the Congress over Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s controversial comments Monday while hitting out at the BJP for mocking Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra as “Bharat todo”.

Kharge had also alleged that the BJP government ‘talks like a lion but acts like a mouse’ as it is not taking on China for indulging in incursions along the border and is running away from a debate on the issue in Parliament.

To this Lekhi responded, “This government is completely dedicated to the security of the country and nation building. Thus the infrastructure of the border is getting built including deployment of Rafale, Tejas, and all the other equipment that army and others may need. We are preparing so that we don’t have to face a debacle like the one we faced in 1962 to the statements that came on Aksai chin virtually giving away 40,000 plus square km. Congress’ statements are an introduction to how low Congress can stoop,” she said. ”

The BJP on Tuesday demanded an apology as soon as the session began.

“We condemn Mallikarjun Kharge’s comments, the way he used offensive language and tried to spread a lie. He should apologise..,” said Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in Rajya Sabha.

Interestingly, a day after the ruckus over dog comment Kharge shared a millet meal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a lunch hosted by agriculture minister Narendra Tomar to mark Millet Year 2023.