Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, hit back at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for calling him Ravan recently, saying top leaders of the Opposition party were vying with each other to use the most abusive language against him.

Addressing an election rally at Kalol town in poll-bound Gujarat, he said he was not surprised that the Congress leaders were saying bad things about him. ”But I am amazed that even after saying so many bad things, neither the Congress party nor its leaders have ever regretted the words they have used. They feel it their right to abuse Modi and the PM of this country,” he added.

Modi said he respected Kharge, but the latter would use the words he has been told to speak. ”The Congress party doesn’t know that this is the Gujarat of Ram bhakts (devotees). In this land of Ram bhakts, he (Kharge) was asked to call me a Ravan with 100 heads.”

At an election meeting at Behrampura in Ahmedabad, the Congress chief had described the PM as Ravan, triggering a war of words between the ruling dispensation and the grand old party. “In all these campaigns, he (Modi) only talks about himself. ”Don’t look at anyone else, just look at Modi and vote… how many times do we have to see your face? How many forms do you have? Do you have 100 heads like Ravan?” Kharge had said.

The PM said the Congress did not accept Lord Ram’s existence, but they had brought the character of Ravan from Ramayan to abuse him. “We know that Congress does not accept the existence of Lord Ram, and does not believe in Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir. They have a problem with Ram Setu as well. Now, this Congress party has brought Ravan from Ramayan to speak insulting words about me,” he added.

The PM said Congress leaders could do anything to please one family. “If they believed in democracy, they would have never gone to this level. They believe in one family and not democracy. They can do anything to please that one family and that family is everything to them, not democracy,” he said.

Modi said a competition was going on in the Congress party on who would use more bad words against him. ”We have to teach them a lesson and the way is to press the button on Lotus on the 5th (second phase of Gujarat elections),” he added.

“The Congress should note that the more dirt it throws on me, the more the lotus will bloom,” he added.

The second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held on 5 December. The PM is currently on a hectic campaign tour of his home state. Today, he is scheduled to undertake a three-hour mega roadshow across 16 Assembly constituencies.