Congress stages protests seeking PM Modi's apology for 'insulting Maharashtra'

Congress workers shout slogans as the protest below a statue of Mahatma Gandhi against India`s Prime Minister Narendra Modi following his speech in Parliament, in Mumbai. Pic/AFP

Leaders and workers of the Maharashtra Congress took part in a state-wide protest demanding an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "insulting the state" by suggesting that it had caused the spread of Covid-19 infection in other states.

Addressing the media amid the protest near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi near Mantralaya, the Congress' state unit chief Nana Patole accused Modi of stating that Maharashtra was the spreader of Covid-19. "Maharashtra, which had provided all help to people (during the pandemic), has not given any right to Modi to insult the state. The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate the insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's state," the Congress leader said. Congress workers and leaders were demonstrating outside the BJP's offices in each district of the state, he said. Patole said his party will continue to stage protests every day till the prime minister apologises to the people of Maharashtra.

During a debate in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the prime minister had said that the Congress had "crossed all limits" during the Covid-19 pandemic. He had alleged that during the first wave, when people were following lockdowns and Covid-19 norms, the Congress was standing at railway stations in Mumbai and scaring innocent labourers into fleeing to their native states. Patole further said that Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis must come clean publicly on Modi's remarks.

"Fadnavis should speak publicly if he supports Modi's remark, or else, he will be termed as 'Maharashtra drohi' (traitor) because the remark is an insult to Maharashtra. Hence, the Maharashtra BJP should explain its stand on the issue," Patole said. Maharashtra minister Nitin Raut, Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap and other leaders of the party also took part in the protest, during which workers gave slogans against the prime minister.

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