Priyank Kharge Rebukes Yogi Adityanath For Exploiting Family Tragedy, Urges UP CM To Focus On Real Issues

Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge has responded sharply to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for invoking a personal tragedy from his father Mallikarjun Kharge's childhood.

Priyank clarified that it was the Hyderabad Nizam's militia, the Razakars, who burned down his father's home in 1948, not the entire Muslim community, reported India Today.

"It was the Razakars who did this-not the entire Muslim community. Every community has bad individuals," Priyank tweeted.

He highlighted that his father narrowly escaped the incident and went on to become a nine-time MLA, twice elected to both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, a Union Minister, the Leader of the Lok Sabha, and now the Congress President.

Mallikarjun Kharge was born in the Bidar region of the former Hyderabad state under Nizam rule, where the Razakars, a pro-Nizam militia, burned his village during unrest preceding Hyderabad's integration into India. Tragically, Kharge lost his mother, sister, and other family members in the violence.

Adityanath had mentioned this incident during a rally in Maharashtra's Achalpur, saying that Kharge should direct his anger towards the Nizam instead of criticising the BJP's "batenge toh katenge (we perish if divided)" slogan. He alleged that Kharge hesitated to reveal this history, fearing it might harm his appeal among Muslim voters.

Fight on Modi's development plank, if you can

Priyank further tweeted that despite the tragedy, his father never sought sympathy or let hatred define him, adding that Adityanath could not "bulldoze" Kharge's principles.

Criticising Adityanath's remarks as divisive, Priyank said, "Your ideology fails to see Mallikarjun Kharge as an equal. It discriminates between people. Does that mean all of you are bad, or only those who follow it? The existence of discriminatory ideologies doesn't make everyone in a community wrong, does it?"

Priyank underscored that his father, at 82, continues to stand for the Constitution against "tyranny and hatred" and urged Adityanath to campaign on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's accomplishments rather than "sowing seeds of hatred for political gains."