'Ghost of appeasement ... ': PM Modi slams Congress amid Ganesh puja row

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stepped up his attack on the Congress party, saying the "ghost of appeasement of Congress woke up" after his visit to Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud's house on the occasion of Ganesh Puja.
Congress had vehemently criticised the PM's visit to the CJI house for Ganpati Puja, citing the separation of duties between judiciary and executive.
"When I went to the Ganesh Puja programme, the ghost of appeasement of Congress woke up. Congress started opposing Ganpati Puja. Congress is doing anything for appeasement," PM Modi said at a public event in Maharashtra's Wardha.
"In today's Congress the soul of patriotism has breathed its last," he added.
Intensifying his attack on Congress, PM Modi said the party is being "run by urban Naxals" and "tukde tukde gang" and is the most "corrupt and dishonest".
"The spirit of patriotism has died in today's Congress. The ghost of hatred has entered today's Congress. See the language of the Congress people on foreign land, their anti-national agenda, talking about breaking the society, insulting the culture of the country -- this is the Congress that is being run by the people of 'Tukde Tukde Gang' and 'Urban Naxals' it even has problems with Ganesh puja," he said.
He even said that the Congress today is not the same with which Mamata Gandhi was associated during the time of Independence.
"The Congress which you see today is not the party with which a great man like Mahatma Gandhi was associated. Today the most corrupt and dishonest party in the country is Congress. The most corrupt family in the country is the royal family of Congress" the PM said.
Earlier, PM Modi slammed Congress and "people in its ecosystem" and compared its criticism with the divisive tactics employed by the colonial British.