Pope-Modi picture: Congress issues apology, but targets PM | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Kerala Congress has apologized for a picture shared by its state unit featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Pope Francis at the G7 summit. However, the party maintained that it had no reservations about targeting PM Modi.
The apology came after BJP objected to the post and accused the grand old party of insulting the Christian community.
The post, which featured a photo of the meeting, had a caption that read, “Finally, the Pope got a chance to meet God,” alluding to a recent statement made by the Prime Minister.
BJP’s Kerala state unit chief K Surendran condemned the post and accused the Congress of equating Prime Minister Modi with Lord Jesus, which he deemed unacceptable and offensive to Christians who hold Jesus in high regard.
“This tweet by the Congress, equates Prime Minister 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 stopped to this level,” Surendran said in a post on X.
“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 said.
Following the backlash, the Kerala Congress issued a clarification, emphasizing that insulting any religion is not part of their tradition. They affirmed their commitment to uniting all religions and faiths, promoting a friendly atmosphere among the people.
“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,” Kerala Congress said in a post on X.
“In that way, people will understand the communal mind of Surendran and Modi’s entourage to portray the mocking of Narendra Modi’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,” it added.
“We apologize unreservedly if this post has caused any emotional or psychological distress to Christians,” the party said.