Overview

• A widely shared video shows Mallikarjun Kharge telling a farmer who reported damage on four acres that his own 40 acres were worse, urging him not to seek “publicity” and to take complaints to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
• BJP leaders amplified the clip, with Amit Malviya accusing Kharge of “mocking farmers’ pain” and contrasting Congress’s stance with claims that PM Modi’s policies supported agriculture.
• Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad also condemned the remarks, framing them as evidence of Congress’s indifference to farmers.
• JD(S) leader and Union minister H. D. Kumaraswamy called the comments arrogant and insensitive, saying a senior leader should have consoled the distressed farmer instead of drawing comparisons.
• Some Congress voices defended Kharge, with Andhra Pradesh unit vice‑president V. Gurunadham arguing he was criticizing the Centre’s response to flood‑hit farmers rather than belittling them.