Confronted with persistent assault from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge moved to de-escalate a rapidly escalating controversy by apologizing for comments on the people of Gujarat. Kharge reiterated that his remarks were made during a Kerala election rally and “deliberately misinterpreted” but he offered his apology to respect the sanctity of political debate.
The Apology: “Highest Respect for Gujarat”
For Kharge, who took to the social media platform X, his reference here was on his deep respect for the state which produced national icons like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel. "Some language of mine here in Keralam's election speech now people are deliberately misunderstanding it; but I cannot help but feel I should express my deep regret,” Kharge shared recently to his blog. “My intention was never to offend the emotions of the people of Gujarat that I have always, and will always have the highest of regards for.”
Some remarks of mine in a recent election speech in Kerala are being deliberately misinterpreted. Even so, I express my sincere regret. It was never my intention to hurt the sentiments of the people of Gujarat for whom I have always had and will continue to have the highest of…
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 8, 2026
The Kerala Speech That Launched the Row
The trouble started on Sunday, April 5, at the election campaign in Kerala’s Idukki district. Addressing a rally in preparation for the April 9 Assembly polls, Kharge tried to make light of Kerala’s high literacy rate but did so by contrasting it with Gujarat by throwing a pointed and extremely panned contrast.
“Don’t mislead your people in Keralam. They are very smart, they are very educated,” Kharge said. “Modi ji, Vijay (Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan) you both can go and fool the illiterate people in Gujarat or in other places, but you can’t fool Kerala people.”
BJP Slams Rhetoric About “Shameless and Despicable”
The remark was promptly picked up by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which termed it an insult against the six crore citizens of Gujarat. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, in a blistering press conference last week, called the statement "shameless," "demeaning," and "utterly despicable."
#WATCH | Delhi | BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad says, "... Has Mallikarjun Kharge, the national president of the Congress Party, abandoned all decorum... The land of Gujarat, which has given birth to so many great people, has been called illiterate by Congress national president… pic.twitter.com/ZBlRYOT8Ty
— ANI (@ANI) April 7, 2026
Prasad criticized Kharge for assuming a post previously held by men like Jawaharlal Nehru, and told the Gandhi family to state their stand on the "illiterate" label. Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi of Gujarat also condemned the remarks as unacceptable contempt for the state's heritage, the legacy of all Indian writers and the country's education and development.
Reflections on Institutional and External Reactions
There was a rare moment of damage control in the Congress-led UDF as the fallout swept through the movement. Although some leaders defended the comment at first as a comment on “political awareness” instead of real literacy, Shashi Tharoor explained that it is crucial to retain standards of discourse in public to prevent the deterioration of political discourse.
Now, with Kerala on the cusp of elections tomorrow, the BJP has framed the incident as a display of the party’s “elitist” mentality, while the Congress is optimistic Kharge’s apology will end that narrative before it hits in the final hours of the campaign.
