Gandhinagar:  Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has faced sharp criticism  after calling the people of Gujarat “illiterate” who can be fooled. However, this is not the first time Congress leadership has made such statements regarding Gujarat and its people. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has several times mentioned Gujarat in controversial manner in his speeches in the past.

People illiterate in Gujarat, Can be Fooled: Kharge in Kerala

In his speech at Kerala,  Kharge said, “Don’t misguide the people of Keralam. They are very clever, they are educated. Modi ji, Vijay, you both can fool people who are illiterate in Gujarat or in other places, but you can’t fool Keralam people…”

Congress President Kharge’s controversial remark about people of Gujarat in Keralam: “Don’t misguide the people of Keralam. They are very clever, they are educated. Modi ji, Vijay, you both can fool people who are illiterate in Gujarat or in other places, but you can’t fool… pic.twitter.com/Cp2C3EyN2P

— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) April 5, 2026

Your projects moving to Gujarat: Rahul attempts to pit Maharashtra against Gujarat

Not just Kharge, former Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has also, on several occasions, made objectionable remarks about the state of Gujarat.

In one instance  in 2022 during a public meeting in Nanded, Maharashtra, Rahul said, “Your projects are going to Gujarat. As the airplane takes off from the runway similarly, the Airbus project flew away from Maharashtra… because elections are there in Gujarat. Even the mobile phone-related project, the Foxconn project, went to Gujarat. Apart from money, jobs and the future of the state’s youth are also being snatched.”

#WATCH | Maharashtra: Your projects are going to Gujarat as Airbus project went from Maharashtra because elections are there in Gujarat. Even the Foxconn project went. Apart from money, jobs & future of state’s youth are also being snatched: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Nanded pic.twitter.com/1NDyEkEyNZ

— ANI (@ANI) November 9, 2022

Rahul Gandhi again reiterated that projects from Maharashtra are being snatched by Gujarat. “Your projects, be it Apple iPhone factory, be it Boeing aircraft, these (projects) were snatched and taken to Gujarat, 5 lakh people have gotten jobs from these projects, but they were sent to Gujarat.”

Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai last evening visibly trying to play a divide.Neither iPhones nor Boeings are made in Gujarat.Plants are in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,Telangana etc. and these States too are parts of Bharat and not Pakistan or China. Maharashtra youths also work in these plants. pic.twitter.com/aD8kWGw7wC

— Japan K Pathak (@JapanPathak) November 7, 2024

This statement was, however, factually incorrect, as neither iPhones nor Boeing aircraft are manufactured in Gujarat.

Rahul again stated the factually incorrect statement at a Nandurbar rally of the Congress party. “Rs. 2 lakh crore iPhone manufacturing plant, employing 75,000 youths, was snatched away from Maharashtra and they (BJP) sent it to Gujarat,” he said.

Fact is it’s not in Gujarat but in Tamil Nadu.
‘Rs. 2 lakh crore iPhone making plant, employing 75,000 youths, was snatched away from Maharashtra and they(BJP) sent it to Gujarat’, says Rahul Gandhi in Nanurbar rally of Congress party. Pouring kerosene against Guj in Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/hphS4yOxoH

— Japan K Pathak (@JapanPathak) November 14, 2024

Pitching Assam tea workers against Gujarat traders

Earlier, in Assam in 2021, Rahul Gandhi promised to give tea garden workers Rs 365 per day in wages if the party came to power. However, while saying this, he again attacked traders from Gujarat, stating, “Assam’s tea garden workers merely get Rs 167 per day, while traders of Gujarat are given entire tea gardens.”

In fact Raul started Gujarat Congress campaign from Assam last year. You remember? pic.twitter.com/zHN8kzkO7l

— Japan K Pathak (@JapanPathak) November 21, 2022

Bureaucrats from Gujarat control J&K & Tamil Nadu: Rahul

While addressing an event in Tamil Nadu in February 2022, the then Rahul Gandhi said, “Today, the people of Jammu and Kashmir do not rule themselves, but bureaucrats from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat rule them.”

Bureaucrats from Gujarat …. Chennai, February 2022 pic.twitter.com/3wUBDPOBGH

— Japan K Pathak (@JapanPathak) November 21, 2022