Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi on Monday, 21 September 2026, launched a sharp attack on the Indian National Congress, arguing that recent remarks by former Vice President Hamid Ansari — drawn from a book on late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru — lay bare a fundamental ideological rupture between the Congress of the past and its present avatar, which he characterised as a 'Maoist-Muslim League Congress'.

What Trivedi Said at the Press Conference

Addressing reporters at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Trivedi cited a passage Ansari referenced from a 2019 book by the late jurist A.G. Noorani, titled The RSS: A Menace to India. The passage, as recalled by Ansari, attributed to Nehru the view that 'the danger to India is not communism; it is Hindu right-wing communalism.'

Trivedi said he wished to 'congratulate' Ansari for raising three points that, in his reading, worked against the Congress. 'According to Nehru ji, communism and Hindu nationalism did not pose a significant threat to him,' Trivedi said, framing Ansari's account as an inadvertent indictment of the Congress's current political direction.

The Three-Point Critique

Trivedi structured his argument around three conclusions he claimed Ansari's remarks had validated. First, he argued that the reference confirmed Congress had transformed into what he called a 'Maoist-Muslim League Congress, regardless of whether the person speaking held a constitutional post under their government or not.'

Second, he contended that while Nehru himself had reportedly viewed communism as a danger, 'today's Congress has become ultra-leftist — Rahul Gandhi has embraced communism, something Nehru ji considered a danger.' Third, Trivedi noted that it was Congress's own supporters — not the BJP — who had re-introduced Nehru into the current political discourse, with Ansari's speech serving as proof.

Attack on Congress-IUML Alliance in Kerala

The BJP spokesperson also trained his fire on the Congress-led government in Kerala, which governs in alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). Trivedi alleged the IUML is historically continuous with the Muslim League founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, noting that the IUML's founder, Muhammad Ismail, had served as head of the Madras Presidency unit of Jinnah's Muslim League.

'If Jinnah was called Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ismail was called Quaid-e-Millat. If this Muslim League is not that Muslim League, then this Congress is also not the Congress that was known as the Indian National Congress,' Trivedi argued. He pointed out that the IUML currently holds five ministerial posts in Kerala, calling it 'a dark chapter in the history of independent India.'

What Ansari Actually Said

The remarks that triggered the BJP's response were delivered by Ansari on 18 September at the third A.G. Noorani Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, an event titled 'Remembering a Polymath: The Life and Times of Abdul Ghafoor Noorani'. Ansari quoted a passage from Noorani's book in which former Foreign Secretary Jagat Singh Gundevia recorded an observation attributed to Nehru at a meeting of Ministry of External Affairs officials.

Ansari reportedly argued that recent political trends were attempting to replace civic nationalism with what he termed 'cultural nationalism' — an approach that, in his view, risks portraying an electoral majority as a religious majority and creating distinctions among citizens based on faith. The BJP's press conference was a direct rebuttal to that framing.

Political Context and What Comes Next

This exchange is part of a recurring pattern in Indian politics where Nehru's legacy is invoked by both the ruling party and the Opposition to define ideological legitimacy. The BJP's decision to hold a formal press conference — rather than issue a statement — signals an intent to keep the controversy alive in the news cycle. Congress has not yet issued a formal response to Trivedi's specific allegations about the IUML alliance.