Dhami targets Congress over Akhilesh's remarks: 'Alliance over Uttarakhand's self-respect?'

The Uttarakhand CM also targeted the Congress for its chief Kharge's recent remarks on PM Modi, saying the party "has completely shattered all norms of decency"

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday stepped up his attack on the opposition parties, linking Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's controversial remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a separate row over SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's alleged reference to people from the hill state as "infiltrators".

Dhami challenged the Congress to clarify whether its alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) was more important than the "self-respect of Uttarakhand", turning two controversies involving senior opposition leaders into a broader political attack on the INDIA bloc.

The remarks came a day after Kharge, speaking at an event in Patna on Sunday, responded to an audience member, who appeared to suggest that the PM would never leave office, by saying, "Modi ka baap bhi jayega (Even his father will have to go)."

The exchange prompted a backlash from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with senior leaders accusing Kharge of crossing the boundaries of political decorum. The BJP announced nationwide protests against the remark on Monday.

"Making such absurd and inappropriate remarks about the Prime Minister's father is entirely unbecoming in a democracy, and they have completely shattered all norms of decency," Dhami said.

The CM then turned to the SP chief, and said, "Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav, who is in an alliance with the Congress and is a close friend of Rahul Gandhi, has used the term infiltrators in reference to the people of Uttarakhand."

He was referring to Akhilesh's comments last week, when the SP chief, questioning the basis on which people were being "labelled infiltrators", asked: "How do you define an infiltrator?... Our own chief minister (Yogi Adityanath) came to Uttar Pradesh from another state... Will people from Lucknow now call those from Etawah infiltrators? Who gets to decide this?"

The remarks sparked a controversy, with some saying that by targeting the CM's Uttarakhand roots, Akhilesh had insulted the people of the hill state.

The SP, subsequently, said Akhilesh was referring to an individual, not the people of Uttarakhand as a whole. Rajendra Chaudhary, the party's spokesperson and its Uttarakhand in-charge, said Akhilesh had an emotional connection with the state and respected its people.

Dhami rejected that explanation, arguing that the term was an insult to the state's identity and its people, many of whom live and work outside Uttarakhand.

Invoking statehood struggle

He also recalled the police firing on activists demanding a separate Uttarakhand in 1994, when Akhilesh's father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, was the CM of Uttar Pradesh.

Referring to incidents at Khatima, Mussoorie, Shriyantra Tapu and Rampur Tiraha, Dhami said the state's people had not forgotten the violence against the statehood movement.

"What else could we expect from him?" he said, referring to Akhilesh.

Uttarakhand became a separate state in November 2000, following a prolonged movement for statehood. The violence in 1994 against activists remains a defining political memory in the hill state and a recurring point of contention in its politics.

The CM's attack was also directed at the Congress, the principal opposition party in Uttarakhand and an ally of the SP at the national level. By demanding that the Congress choose between its alliance and the state's "self-respect", Dhami sought to make Akhilesh's remarks a test of the Congress's political position in Uttarakhand.

"Furthermore, the Congress party is in an alliance with him (Akhilesh); they must decide what they value more, this alliance or the self-respect of Uttarakhand," Dhami said.

The dispute comes as political parties begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 Uttarakhand Assembly election, in which the BJP will seek to retain power in the state while the Congress will look to prevent a hat-trick by the ruling party.