Overview
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge used his Diwali message on Sunday to call Diwali “Khushiyon Ka Eid” and urged people to put aside misunderstandings and maintain peace.
- BJP leaders, led by spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, quickly denounced the wording as appeasement and labelled the Congress 'anti-Sanatan' in social-media posts.
- BJYM president Hemang Joshi escalated the rhetoric by invoking Rahul Gandhi and calling him the 'Mir Jafar of the new India' in a post on X.
- Kharge also used the occasion to press Rahul Gandhi’s challenge for a public debate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues such as the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, NEET, unemployment and inflation.
- The exchange is playing out mainly through rapid social-media statements and news coverage and could harden cultural messaging between the parties as they dispute electoral and policy issues.