"Insulted Christians...Congress against every single community": BJP leader Anil Antony

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Anil Antony on Monday attacked the Kerala Congress for making a derogatory statement against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Pope Francis on the sidelines of the G7 summit and accused the Congress of insulting the Christian community across India and the world adding that the party is against every single community.

A post by the Congress's Kerala unit mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Pope Francis on the sidelines of the G7 summit drew widespread condemnation.

The Congress post featuring a picture of PM Modi with the Pope said, "Finally, the Pope got a chance to meet God!" The post was later deleted from the Kerala Congress X handle.

The BJP leader said that the Congress party in an attempt to insult PM Modi, has insulted Holy Father Pope Francis.

"Yesterday the tweet by the Twitter handle of Kerala Congress was very disappointing. The G7 summit showed the entire country and world, India's rising stature and PM Modi too. India has emerged as a stability provider. Our Prime Minister has an excellent rapport with global leaders including Holy Father Pope Francis. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, all the Christian community from Northeast to Goa has stood by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mission. The Congress party has been abusing the Hindu community and now they have started abusing the Christian community also. Now Congress politics has fallen to new lows where they are just appeasing one community, they are against every single community because they are not voting for them (Congress). The Congress party in an attempt to make PM Modi look bad, has insulted the Holy Father Pope Francis and the Christian community across India and the world," Antony told ANI.

He further demanded an apology and said that the action of Congress is being repeated and hurting the sentiments of every community.

"The Congress should apologise for what they did. The Kerala Congress Twitter handle did pull down the tweet and also issued a very lengthy apology but this is becoming a repeated issue where they are hurting the sentiments of every community," he added.

BJP leader and party Kerala chief K Surendran condemned the post and accused the Congress of insulting both PM Modi and the Pope.

"The INC India 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," the Kerala chief posted on X.

Questioning the Congress leaders like party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and general secretary KC Venugopal whether they endorsed such utterances.

It's certain that the AICC General Secretary from Kerala, KC Venugopal, is aware of this. The question is, what are Rahul Gandhi and Kharge's interests in supporting this?" he added.

BJP IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya demanded an apology from former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

"After mocking the Hindus and deriding their faith, the Islamist-Marxist nexus in the Congress has now come down to insulting the Christians.

This is when Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving Congress President, herself is a practising Catholic. She must apologise to the believers," Malviya posted on X.

"So, @INCKerala, like cowards, quietly deleted the offensive post, after @GeorgeKurianBJP and @SurendranBJP slammed them. In the true tradition of Third Time Fail Rahul Gandhi, who ran away from Amethi, Congress, when exposed, also goes in hiding. Sonia Gandhi must apologise to the believers," he said in a post.

In response to K Surendran's post, the Congress cited Pope Francis' statement that "it is not heresy to joke about God."

"When you manage to make intelligent smiles gush from the lips of even one spectator, you make even God smile." -- Pope Francis Pope Francis said this on Friday, 14th June on the same day after he met Narendra Modi. Better luck next time, @surendranbjp, @GeorgekurianBjp and others from Modi ka parivar!" the Kerala Congress posted in response to K Surendran X post.

Later the Congress's Kerala unit deleted the post and apologised and clarified that it does not intend to insult any religion or religious figures.

"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 posted on X.

"We apologize unreservedly if this post has caused any emotional or psychological distress to Christians," it added.

The post came in reference to PM Modi's statement that he was "sent by parmatma" (God) for a purpose.