Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday sparked controversy after he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “terrorist” while criticizing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam for aligning with him.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Karg questioned the AIADMK’s decision to cooperate with the Prime Minister. “How can these people from AIADMK, who have themselves created Annadurai’s image, how can they join Modi? He is a terrorist. His party will not believe in equality and justice. These people are joining them; it means they are weakening democracy,” he said.
“You need leaders who will not bow down to the BJP and will stand and fight, and that is MK Stalin. Today, the AIADMK has lost its identity. It has become a silent partner of the BJP. It cannot protect the interests of Tamil Nadu, as it has become a slave of PM Modi,” he added.
He then clarified his statement, saying that he did not mean to describe the Prime Minister as a “terrorist,” but rather that he “always terrorizes” people and political parties.
“He (Prime Minister Modi) is terrorizing people and political parties. I never said he is a terrorist… What I mean, I want to make clear, is that Modi is always threatening. Institutions like the Directorate of Security, IT and the RBI are in his hands. He wants to take border demarcation into his hands as well,” he said.
Karg accuses PM Modi of violating model code of conduct
Karg also accused Prime Minister Modi of violating the Model Code of Conduct by addressing the nation after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 failed to pass in Parliament. He also accused the Election Commission of acting as an extended arm of the BJP.
“The violation of the Model Code of Conduct by the Prime Minister in the middle of elections is completely unacceptable. The Election Commission has acted as an extension of the BJP office. First, we saw alleged tampering of voter lists, then the SIR issue, and now there have been attempts to control delimitation – which we opposed,” he said.
The Congress President wondered why the bill was not implemented in 2023, when it was originally passed. Prime Minister Modi thanked the opposition in 2023, he added, adding that he now claims that the Congress is not supporting the bill.
“Unfortunately, Modi is giving a different narrative. He claims that instead of opposing the failed demarcation bill, the party is opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill. This is not true. The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in 2023, and we fully supported it. At that time, Modi thanked us for this support.”
“We have only requested that since the bill has been passed, it should be implemented immediately using the existing strength of 543 seats. However, he said that implementation is not possible as the census is not completed and delimitation has not been implemented. He stated that it will be implemented only after completion of both the processes,” he added.
Shehbaz Poonawalla denounces Kharge’s statement
Speaking to X in minutes, the BJP spokesperson slammed the Congress and called the Prime Minister a “terrorist”.
In his post, Poonawalla pointed out that Congress has abused the Prime Minister 175 times so far.
“The best Jacobins and Naxals are innocent. But for Congress – PM Chaiwala is OBC terrorist, RSS is poisonous snake, Sanatan is disease. This is Cong ki Sanvidhan virodhi Nafrati dukaan. They are giving clean talk to jihad and abusing PM-elect. 175 violations so far.”
