Congress, RJD ace heat after ‘unidentified’ person abuses PM Modi at Opp event

He was stopped by someone on the stage amid slogans of “Vote chor, gaddi chhor (vote thief give up your throne)”. Mohammed Naushad Alam, a Congress ticket hopeful from Jale, was on the stage at that time, said sources.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the use of “abusive language filled with expletives” against PM Modi was not only condemnable but also a “stain on our democracy”. “Under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, Congress politics has reached its lowest level. They cannot tolerate how a poor mother’s son has been sitting in the Prime Minister’s chair for the past 11 years and is continuously taking the country forward under his leadership,” Shah said in a post on X.

“This clearly shows that the Congress party has returned to its old ways and character through which it has always poisoned the country’s political culture. From the time of being the Chief Minister of Gujarat until today, the Gandhi family has left no stone unturned in spreading hatred against Modi ji,” he said.

BJP national president J P Nadda warned Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav that the people of Bihar will “answer them through democratic means”.

“During the Congress’s so-called ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’, the way PM Narendra Modi’s departed mother was abused from the Congress-RJD’s stage is extremely condemnable… They have crossed all limits of propriety. These two Shehzadas have also disrespected the soil of Bihar,” he said. “Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav must apologise for this misdeed immediately.”

Alleging that the Congress and the RJD had “exhibited the audacity of disrespecting the matrushakti of this country from the land of Janaki”, Nadda also criticised the language used by the two leaders in their public meetings. “Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav’s language of ‘tu-tadak’ has destroyed the drawn lines of politics… These people have repeatedly made condemnable comments against PM Narendra Modi and his parents. The people of Bihar will never tolerate such misdeeds…,” he said.

Reacting to the development, state Congress spokesman Asit Nath Tiwari said, “It is not our party, but the BJP, which is known for ‘gali-galauj’ (abusive language). There is so much resentment against the ruling NDA that people have begun venting spleen from podiums. Still, we stop the people from doing so and explain to them that such behaviour is the BJP’s wont, not that of the Congress.”

RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari said huge crowds have been turning up for the yatra. “How do we know which party’s supporter had used such language with what hidden agenda? The matter should be investigated. Moreover, civility of discourse has always been violated by the BJP, never by the INDIA bloc,” he said.

A delegation of Bihar BJP lodged a complaint at Kotwali police station in Patna on Thursday in connection with the Darbhanga incident. Reacting to the episode, which has gone viral on social media, Deputy Chief Minister and former state BJP president Samrat Choudhary said, “The behaviour of the crowds was characteristic of the RJD’s hooliganism. And the Congress puts up with rowdy behaviour in its blind quest for power.”

BJP state vice-president Santosh Pathak said, “The onus is on Congress to identify the person who used foul language.”

Bihar Congress spokesperson Gyan Ranjan Gupta said, “We equally condemn the incident. Rahul Gandhi was not scheduled to address the public at Bithauli. The person needs to be identified and brought to book.”

AICC secretary (Bihar) Shahnawaz Alam said the person’s language is not part of the “Congress’s culture”. “We understand the anger and frustration people have with the Central government, but Congress doesn’t accept this kind of language. It could also be a bid to distract people from the issue of vote theft,” Alam told The Indian Express.  (With PTI inputs)