New Delhi: Hitting out at Mallikarjun Kharge for his disparaging "personal" remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Sunday said the Congress chief is using language "associated with thugs and hooligans", reflecting the "ideological bankruptcy" of his party that appears more like a "mafia gang".
The ruling party's strong reaction followed Kharge's outburst during a function on the 139th birth anniversary of Bihar's first chief minister, Shrikrishna Singh, in Patna, where he said that the Congress will send those involved in carrying out alleged irregularities in the SIR process to jail.
"Modi ka baap bhi jayega, baap bhi jayega (Let alone Modi, even his father would go)," Kharge retorted from the dais, after a member of the audience interrupted the Congress chief's speech and shouted, "As long as there is no rebellion, Modi won't go anywhere."
BJP chief Nitin Nabin said the people of the country are watching this "indecent politics very closely and will give it a befitting reply in due time".
"The kind of indecent and unparliamentary language used today in Patna by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge towards the country's honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji reflects the Congress party's ideological bankruptcy," he said on X.
Nabin said political opposition too should have some dignity. "But dragging the departed family members into speeches from public platforms has now become the real 'culture' of Rahul Gandhi and the entire opposition," he said.
"The language that was once associated with thugs and hooligans is now being used by the Congress President himself... Their entire style of functioning has turned into that of a mafia. This isn't a political party anymore -- it seems more like a mafia gang," the BJP said on its X handle.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that Kharge has today "torn apart all norms of decorum by making an indecent remark about Modi ji's father in Patna".
"This is not the first time that the Congress party has used abusive language against Modi ji or his family. At times, they have hurled insults at his revered mother, at times called him 'merchant of death,' and at times mocked his poverty by calling him 'chaiwala.'
"Under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, the Congress party keeps crossing the limits of indecency every day. In the past 12 years, the repeated electoral defeats have bred such desperation and frustration in the Congress party that it no longer has any policy left, nor any issue -- only the politics of slander remains," he alleged.
Shah said Congress is now steadily losing its base even among its own workers. "Whenever they have made hateful comments against Modi ji or his family, the public has given Congress a resounding response every time," the former BJP chief said in a Hindi post on X.
Nabin also said that when the opposition has no solid issues left to debate on the country's development, policies and public welfare schemes, they resort to "this kind of desperation and personal attacks."
Union minister J P Nadda condemned Kharge's remarks and said the Congress, frustrated by its repeated electoral defeats, is venting its "political resentment" by making disparaging comments against Prime Minister Modi and his family.
Such "indecent remarks" directed at the prime minister and his family not only reveal a profound lack of political decorum in the Congress leader but also constitute an insult to the people of the country, the former BJP president charged.
"The objectionable remark made by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge against the late father of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi deserves the strongest possible condemnation," Nadda said on X.
"People of the country will surely deliver their response to such petty politics through democratic means," he added.
Nadda said the opposition's "panic", stemming from Modi's rising popularity at home and abroad, and the people's unwavering trust in him, is now plainly evident in its language and conduct.
"The Congress must realise that the trust of the people cannot be won through a politics of hatred and humiliation," Nadda said.
BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed Kharge, alleging that he has made such disparaging comments against the prime minister at the behest of Rahul Gandhi.
"Today, the Congress party is bursting with the frustration of regime change. They know very well they have failed in their repeated attempts to launch Rahul Gandhi and to change the regime through anarchic means. And today this frustration was visible," he told reporters here.
BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said Kharge's remarks against PM Modi were "shameful, undignified and petty", and demanded that both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi apologise.
"We strongly condemn this (Kharge's remarks). People of the country are watching all of this and will give a fitting reply, as seen in the recent by-elections and municipal polls. The Congress party will be wiped out everywhere," Prasad told reporters.