Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge landed in political controversy after a series of misstatements involving the names of President Droupadi Murmu and her predecessor Ram Nath Kovind. While addressing a gathering at Science Ground in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Kharge was heard calling the President “Murma ji” before correcting himself to “Murmu”. Moments later, he referred to Kovind as “Covid”, drawing strong criticism from the BJP.
Kharge made the errors while speaking on alleged deforestation and land grabs in Chhattisgarh.
“Our jal, jungle and zameen need to be protected and hence we need to be united… They (BJP) say we made (Droupadi) Murma President, (Ram Nath) Covid President, but why? To steal our resources, our jungle, jal and zameen. Today, people like Adani and Ambani are occupying it,” he said.
BJP Calls Kharge’s Remarks Anti-Tribal and Disrespectful
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted sharply, accusing the Congress of insulting tribal, Dalit, and women communities. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia stated,“The Congress president has used objectionable words against Draupadi Murmu. The entire tribal community is condemning this. He even used words like Covid for former President Ram Nath Kovind”
Shehzad Poonawalla, another BJP spokesperson, called Kharge’s remarks a reflection of deep-rooted bias:“The comment made by the Congress chief calling President Droupadi Murmu as Murma ji, Kovind ji as Covid ji, then saying that they are land grabbers, reflects the deep-seated hatred Congress has for the SC and ST community”
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He further added that the Congress has shown a consistent lack of respect for constitutional positions, citing past remarks against the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister, and the President.
This is not the first time the Congress has courted controversy over remarks on President Droupadi Murmu. In 2022, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury referred to Murmu as “Rashtrapatni”, sparking a major political storm. At the time, Chowdhury clarified that the term was a linguistic error, attributing it to his limited Hindi proficiency due to Bengali being his mother tongue.
