Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday described the Bharatiya Janata Party as a “party of terrorists”, alleging that it supports those who lynch and assault people, reported NDTV.

His came in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment from October 5 that the Congress was led by a “gang of urban Naxals”.

“They call intellectuals and progressive people ‘urban Naxals’, they call the Congress urban Naxals,” Kharge said. “The BJP itself is a party of terrorists”.

The term “urban Naxals” was first used by ministers of the Union government and BJP leaders after several activists and academicians were arrested in the Elgar Parishad case in 2018. Since then, the term has often been used for dissidents of the Modi-led government.

Kharge on Saturday accused the Hindutva party of backing those who commit violence against marginalised communities.

“They lynch and assault people, urinate in the mouths of members of the Scheduled Castes and rape tribals,” Kharge said, according to NDTV. “They [the BJP leadership] support those who commit these acts, and then they blame others.”

Responding to Kharge’s remarks, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that the Congress was insulting the wisdom of crores of people who voted for the Hindutva party in the last three Lok Sabha elections, ANI reported.

“They [Congress] are saying that the people have elected terrorists,” Poonawala said. “They have always used this kind of language abusing PM Modi and the Other Backward Classes... now they are abusing people. This shows the character and the DNA of Congress.”

Poonawalla termed Congress as the “most anti-Dalit party” and said it had no right to question the BJP on caste atrocities.

“What have they done with [Dalit Congress leader] Kumari Selja in Haryana?” he asked. “What are the Dalits of Haryana saying? What did they do in Rajasthan when [Congress leader Ashok] Gehlot government was there? The maximum number of crimes on SCs and STs took place.”

The BJP won the Haryana election by clinching 48 seats in the 90-member Assembly, while the Congress won 37 seats.