The Kerala Congress shared sarcastic post on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meet with Pope Francis at the G7 Summit and later deleted it, issuing an apology to the Christian community.
The post also invited outrage from the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress' Kerala unit posted a picture of PM Modi with the Pope with a comment reading, "Finally, the Pope got a chance to meet God!"
The sarcastic comment was made in reference to the Prime Minister's earlier remark that he believes he was "sent by God" for a purpose.
BJP HITS OUT AT CONGRESS
The BJP sprung into immediate action, launching a scathing attack at the grand old party and demanding apology for the insult of both Modi and the Pope.
BJP Kerala President K Surendran took to X and said, "The @INCIndia Kerala "X" handle, seemingly run by radical Islamists or Urban Naxals, continues to post derogatory and humiliating content against nationalistic leaders."
"Now, it has even stooped to mocking the respected Pope and the Christian community. It's certain that the AICC General Secretary from Kerala, @kcvenugopalmp, is aware of this. The question is, what are @RahulGandhi and @kharge's interests in supporting this?" he added.
BJP leader George Kurian also took a swipe at the Congress and said that it equates PM Modi to Lord Jesus. "This is absolutely uncalled for and is an insult to the Christian community, who revere Jesus. It is shameful that Congress has stooped to this level," Kurian added.
In response, Congress' Kerala unit quoted Pope Francis, "When you manage to make intelligent smiles gush from the lips of even one spectator, you make even God smile."
The grand old party said that the Pope said this statement on Friday, June 14, the same day after his meeting with Modi. "Better luck next time, @surendranbjp, @GeorgekurianBjp and others from Modi ka parivar!" the Congress said in it post.
BJP IT Cell head, Amit Malviya, said that after insulting Hindus, the Islamist-Marxist nexus, the "Congress has now come down to insulting the Christians".
"This, when Sonia Gandhi, the longest serving Congress President, herself is a practising Catholic. She must apologise to the believers," he added.
CONGRESS DELETES POST, ISSUES APOLOGY
Following the massive outrage and backlash the Congress received over its post on PM Modi-Pope Francis' meeting, the grand old party deleted the post from its X handle.
Issuing an apology, the Congress' Kerala unit clarified that the people of the nation are aware that it is not the party's tradition to insult and disparage any religion, religious priests and idols.
"Congress is a movement that unites all religions and faiths and leads the people forward in a friendly atmosphere," it said.
Further justifying itself, the grand old party said, "No Congress worker would even entertain the remotest thought of insulting the Pope, whom Christians around the world see as God-like. However, the Congress has no qualms about mocking Narendra Modi, who insults the believers of this country by calling himself God."
It said that the people will understand the communal mind of Kerala BJP chief Surendran and Modi's entourage to portray the mocking of the Prime Minister's "shameless political games as an insult to the Pope".
"Surendran and his colleagues are trying to downgrade Christians as a group of people who have no self-respect and spread communal poison as soon as they inject it," the grand old party said while hitting out at the BJP.
Further sharpening its attack at the BJP, the Kerala Congress said that if there is genuine admiration for the Christian community then "Modi and his cohorts who remained silent when their temples were burnt down in Manipur, should first unconditionally apologise to the Christian community".
"We apologize unreservedly if this post has caused any emotional or psychological distress to Christians," the grand old party said concluding its stand.
Notably, BJP leader Amit Malviya launched another attack at the Kerala Congress after the latter deleted its post on X and said, "So, @INCKerala, like cowards, quietly deleted the offensive post, after @GeorgeKurianBJP and @SurendranBJP slammed them. In true tradition of Third Time Fail Rahul Gandhi, who ran away from Amethi, Congress, when exposed, also goes in hiding."
