BJP Leader Responds to Mallikarjun Kharge’s “Shiva Vs. Ram” Remark in Chhattisgarh, Which Stirs Up a Row
Following Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s “Ram Vs Shiva” comment made at a Chhattisgarh electoral rally, a political controversy broke out. While supporting Shivakumar Dahariya, the Congress candidate for the Janjgir-Champa Lok Sabha constituency, Kharge likened the name “Shiva” to Lord Ram. “Because he is Shiv, he can give Lord Ram a hard fight,” the Congress president said.
Kharge also issued a warning to the BJP, seemingly directed at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, telling them not to “lure people with religious talks.”
Shivkumar Dahariya is this candidate. Shivkumar is his name; kyunki ye Shiv hai, barabar ye Ram ka muqabla kar sakta hai. Mallikarjun is my name. Shiv hoon main bhi…Don’t use religious discourse to entice others. He remarked, “People are intelligent.”
But the BJP was not pleased with the comment. Shehzad Poonawalla, the national spokesman for the party, accused the “anti-Hindu” Congress of “dividing our Bhagwan (Gods)” on the microblogging platform X.
“After targeting Sanatan, Shakti, Ram, and Ram Mandir, the Anti Hindu Congress is attacking us. They want to divide and rule; they even plan to divide our Bhagwan,” he said.
In addition, the BJP leader said that Congress may “split its Hindu base” in order to “unify its Muslim vote bank.”
“If dividing people based on language, caste, and other factors wasn’t enough, now there’s Ram versus Shiva! Hindus are divided while they argue that the Muslim votebank should come together. “Anti-Hindu Congress,” stated he.
On May 7, the third round of Lok Sabha elections will take place, with seven Lok Sabha seats from Chhattisgarh—Sarguja, Raigarh, Janjgir-Champa, Korba, Bilaspur, Durg, and Raipur—going to the polls.
