Priyank Kharge: The Day Chalavadi Narayanaswamy Stops Speaking About Me Will Be His Last In Politics
“Instead of carrying the RSS’s shorts on his head and trying to find political relevance through them, I have always believed that continuing in the ideological shadow of my father is a far more dignified form of politics”: IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge
KALABURAGI: IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday launched a sharp counterattack on Leader of the Opposition in Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy. He questioned Narayanaswamy’s moral authority to speak on Dalit identity and accused him of repeatedly targeting him to remain politically relevant.
Kharge’s remarks came after Narayanaswamy criticised him recently, triggering a fresh political exchange between the two leaders. Talking to X, Kharge said Narayanaswamy had made all kinds of remarks about him and alleged that attacking him had become necessary for the BJP leader’s political survival.
“The day he stops speaking about me will be the last day of his politics,” Kharge posted, adding that he preferred to continue in the ideological legacy of his father (AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge) rather than seek political relevance by aligning himself with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“Instead of carrying the RSS’s shorts on his head and trying to find political relevance through them, I have always believed that continuing in the ideological shadow of my father is a far more dignified form of politics,” he added.
Taking a swipe over the issue of dynastic politics, Kharge challenged Narayanaswamy to first speak about leaders within his own party.
“If he really wants to speak about dynastic politics, let him begin by talking about the president of his own party, Vijayendra, and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Aravind Bellad. Does Narayanaswamy have the courage to do that? Kharge also sought to give the issue a strong ideological and social dimension, asserting that Dalit identity could not be reduced to political symbolism.
“Carrying on one’s head the shorts of an organisation that once burnt a draft copy of the Constitution in opposition to it is not Dalit consciousness,”
he said, adding that true Dalit consciousness stood for self-respect, moral courage, inner strength, and resistance against injustice.
“Those who have placed the self-respect of Dalit identity at the feet of the RSS’s shorts — is it nothing but sheer mockery for them to lecture others on Dalit consciousness?” he added.