Thiruvananthapuram/IBNS: The Kerala Congress has apologised for its X post, which was shared in an attempt to take a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Pope Francis during the G7 Summit, following a strong objection from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Posting a picture from Modi's meeting with the Pope, the Kerala Congress wrote on X, "Finally, the Pope got a chance to meet God."

Taking a strong objection, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, George Kurian, wrote on X, "This tweet by the Congress, equates Prime Minister Modi to Lord Jesus. This is absolutely uncalled for and is an insult to the Christian community, who revere Jesus. It is shameful that Congress has stopped to this level."

Apologising for the post, the Kerala Congress wrote on X, "The entire people of this country know that it is not the tradition of the Indian National Congress to insult and disparage any religion, religious priests and idols. Congress is a movement that unites all religions and faiths and leads the people forward in a friendly atmosphere.

"No Congress worker would even entertain the remotest thought of insulting the Pope, whom Christians around the world see as God-like. However, the Congress has no qualms about mocking Narendra Modi, who insults the believers of this country by calling himself God. In that way, people will understand the communal mind of Surendran and Modi's entourage to portray the mocking of Narendra Modi's shameless political games as an insult to the Pope.

"Surendran and his colleagues are trying to downgrade Christians as a group of people who have no self-respect and spread communal poison as soon as they inject it. If there is genuine love for the Christian community then Modi and his cohorts who remained silent when their temples were burnt down in Manipur should first unconditionally apologize to the Christian community. We apologize unreservedly if this post has caused any emotional or psychological distress to Christians."