Mallikarjun Kharge's illiterate Gujaratis remark in Kerala invites BJP fury

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge sparked a political storm ahead of Kerala polls after saying Kerala's educated voters cannot be fooled unlike "illiterate" people in Gujarat and elsewhere. The BJP sharply slammed the remark as insulting Gujaratis, with Harsh Sanghavi and Sudhanshu Trivedi accusing Congress of divide-and-rule politics before the polls.

In Short

• Congress president Kharge called Kerala voters educated and clever
• Kharge said Modi and Vijayan can't fool Kerala people
• BJP criticised Kharge for insulting Gujarat and its leaders

A political row erupted ahead of the Kerala Assembly elections after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, while addressing a rally in Idukki district on Sunday, said the people of Kerala are “educated and clever” and cannot be misled, unlike those in Gujarat and some other places.

At the rally, Kharge said, "Don't misguide the people of Kerala. They are very clever, they are educated. Modi ji, Vijay (Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan), you both can fool those who are illiterate in Gujarat or other places, but you can't fool Kerala people," drawing immediate criticism from the BJP.

The BJP hit back strongly, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi also launched a blistering attack on Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in a post on X, saying his remarks amounted to an insult to the six crore people of Gujarat and the state’s legacy of giving the country Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sanghavi accused the Congress of repeatedly targeting Gujarat and asked whether the party’s criticism stemmed from being “thrown out of power” by the people of the state. He said Kharge’s statement reflected not frustration but the Congress’s “true stature”, and asserted that Gujarat’s politically aware public has always rejected those who insult the land of Gandhi and Patel and would continue to do so, adding that “Gujarat will not forgive.”

BJP’s national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi hit back at Kharge asking what he thought of the “intelligence” of leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, all of whom hailed from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of north India. Trivedi accused the Congress of indulging in divide-and-rule politics ahead of the April 9 Kerala polls and said the people of the state would give a fitting response in the elections.

- Ends