BJP leader Ravi Kumar demands apology from Priyank Kharge over ‘village idiot’ remark

Bengaluru: BJP leader Ravi Kumar on Thursday strongly condemned a remark made by State Home Minister Priyank Kharge during a recent attack on Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, saying it had insulted millions of villagers across the country.

Ravi Kumar took exception to Kharge’s question, posed in what he described as a contemptuous tone: “Are you a village idiot?” Directed at Kumaraswamy, the remark, according to Ravi Kumar, amounted to branding all villagers as idiots and was highly reprehensible.

“By this reprehensible remark, Priyank Kharge has insulted millions of villagers in the country. What does he mean by this? He means that all villagers are idiots. This remark is highly condemnable, and Priyank Kharge deserves to be publicly admonished,” Ravi Kumar said.

He reminded the Home Minister that the Congress party had come to power in Karnataka in 2023 largely because of the support of millions of rural voters. “Let Kharge Jr realise that his party came to power in 2023 because millions of villagers voted Congress to power,” he said, demanding that Priyank Kharge tender an “unconditional and unalloyed apology” to the villagers.

Identifying himself as someone who hails from a remote village in Chitradurga district, Ravi Kumar said he was proud of his rural background.

The comments come amid ongoing political exchanges between the ruling Congress in Karnataka and the opposition.

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M Raghuram

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