Overview
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, while extending Diwali greetings, said “Diwali khushiyon ka Eid hai” and urged people to keep peace, set aside differences and work for national unity.
- BJP spokespeople quickly denounced the phrasing as appeasement and labeled Congress “anti‑Sanatan,” with figures including Hemang Joshi using personal jibes and Pradeep Bhandari linking the remark to Sonia Gandhi’s recent comments on the Babri Masjid.
- The exchange went viral on social media and multiple BJP leaders have continued the attacks into Monday without any public retraction or apology from Kharge.
- The row has been folded into election‑season politics, with BJP spokespeople arguing the remark is aimed at winning Muslim votes ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and opposition figures tying it to wider disputes over voter‑roll revisions and campaign issues.
- Coverage has split along familiar lines, with many outlets and Congress supporters defending Kharge’s words as a secular, metaphorical call for harmony and BJP‑aligned outlets treating them as evidence of deliberate appeasement, a dynamic likely to sharpen festival‑time polarization and electoral messaging.