'...Because I Am Dalit': Kharge's Counter To BJP's 'Insult To Jat' Remark Over Mimicry Row

Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge was responding to BJP's remarks that mimicking Jagdeep Dhankar was an insult to the Jat community.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that caste should not be dragged into every issue after the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) called TMC MP's mimic an insult to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Jat community. Kharge said that should he say if he was not allowed to speak it was because he is a Dalit.

"If I am not allowed to speak, should I say it is because I am Dalit...Caste should not be dragged into every issue and used to incite people," Kharge said, quoted PTI.

On Tuesday, 141 MPs were suspended for disrupting parliament proceedings and while they were sitting outside the building, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee began mimicking to which others laughed while Congress MP Rahul Gandhi filmed the entire act. BJP reacted sharply to the act and slammed Congress. 

Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said: "They were enjoying while making the video. Look at their intention, they were insulting the Jat community, farmers, OBC community and the Vice President. They think that only they have the right to sit on that chair and how can a person from the Jat community or a farmer's son sit on that Chair. We condemn this act."

Meanwhile, the Jat community is holding a protest outside the Parliament complex asking for TMC MP's apologies and warned they would take revenge otherwise.

Kalyan Banerjee, however, said his motive was not to hurt anyone and added that PM Narendra Modi did so in Lok Sabha from 2014-2019. "I have never had any intention to hurt anyone...Does he really behave like this in Rajya Sabha? Mimicry was done by the PM in Lok Sabha between 2014-2019..." Banerjee said.