New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s “baap” remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has triggered a political furore, with BJP workers protesting across the country and demanding an apology from the Congress chief.
Kharge made the remark at an event commemorating the 139th birth anniversary of Shri Krishna Sinha, Bihar’s first Chief Minister. When someone in the crowd shouted, “Modi kahin nahin jayega” (Modi won’t go anywhere), Kharge retorted, “Modi ka baap bhi jaayega” (Even Modi’s father will go). Congress workers at the venue allegedly thrashed the man, believing him to be a heckler.
Santosh Kumar, however, later told the media that he was a dedicated Congress supporter and that his remarks had been misunderstood. He said he had actually meant that Modi would not leave office unless ousted by a revolt, but that his full message had been drowned out by the din.
Following the incident, BJP worker Krishna Kumar filed a police complaint against Kharge in Patna on Sunday evening. The BJP also announced protests across the country, with the Delhi unit demonstrating near Kharge’s residence on Monday.
BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, hit back. In a post on X, Shah said the Congress “keeps crossing the limits of indecency every day”, adding that this was not the first time the party had used abusive language against Modi or his family.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, in turn, reminded Shah of his own remarks about Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother. In an 11-second clip of an old speech posted by Moitra, Shah can be heard saying: “Arey Rahul baba, aap to kya, aap ki nani bhi upar se wapis aajaaye, CAA ko nahi hataenge” (Rahul baba, let alone you, even if your grandmother returns from the dead, we will not repeal the CAA).
The exchange underscores a familiar feature of Indian politics—the outrage over personal insults is rarely confined to one side. Kharge’s remark is the latest addition to a long list of politicians whose language has been deemed indecent by their critics. ThePrint looks at a few such instances.
Also Read: Acquitting Rahul Gandhi, Sultanpur court questions locus standi of BJP leader’s defamation complaint
Modi’s ‘Jersey cow’ and ‘50 crore girlfriend’ remarks
Modi, now at the receiving end of such barbs, has hardly been a stranger to them himself.
In 2004, while serving as Gujarat Chief Minister, Modi referred to Sonia Gandhi as a “Jersey cow” and Rahul Gandhi as a “hybrid calf” during a speech at L.K. Advani’s Bharat Uday Yatra. The remarks were reportedly aimed at Sonia’s background. “Soniyaben to ek Jersey gaay che and aa Rahul to ek Hybrid vachardu chhe” (Sonia is a Jersey cow and Rahul is a hybrid calf), he said.
His attacks on Sonia continued after he became Prime Minister. In 2018, Modi drew flak for a “Congress ki vidhwa” remark at a campaign rally, where he accused the party of embezzling funds through Rajasthan’s widow pension scheme. “Ye Congress ki kaun si vidhwa thi jiske khate mein paisa jaata tha?” (Which Congress widow received the money in her account?), he asked.
Although Modi did not name anyone, the remark was widely interpreted as a dig at Sonia and drew criticism from Congress leaders, including former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Calling it a “new low” in a post on X, Siddaramaiah said Modi’s “insensitive comments on opposition leaders are a blot on the chair of PM”.
Modi’s barbs were not limited to the Congress high command. In 2012, days before the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, he took a swipe at Sunanda Pushkar, the late wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, calling her Tharoor’s “50 crore girlfriend”.
Tharoor, then a Union Minister in the UPA government, retorted that his wife was “priceless” and took a dig at Modi and wrote on X, “But you need2be able2love some1 2understand that”.
Rahul Gandhi’s legal battles over ‘defamatory’ remarks
For the Congress, Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha in 2023 following his conviction in a criminal defamation case remains one of the most consequential episodes involving a politician’s remarks.
While campaigning in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul asked: “Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi… how come all thieves have the Modi surname?” Businessmen Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi had fled India amid separate financial-crime allegations.
Purnesh Modi, a former Gujarat BJP MLA who shares the surname, filed a criminal defamation complaint against Rahul in Surat. A court convicted Rahul and sentenced him to two years in prison, triggering his disqualification from the Lok Sabha. The Supreme Court later stayed the conviction, allowing him to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
More recently, Rahul was acquitted this week in another criminal defamation case over a 2018 remark about Amit Shah, then BJP President. At a press conference in Bengaluru, Rahul had said: “They will accept a man accused of murder as the President of BJP.”
He was referring to the Sohrabuddin encounter case, from which Shah was discharged in 2014. BJP leader Vijay Mishra had filed the case against Rahul.
Rahul’s attacks on Modi also drew criticism last month after a comedian imitated the Prime Minister at the Congress MP’s Chhatron ki Goonj event in Indore. On 19 September, Rahul invited comedian Pulkit Mani on stage, where Mani mocked Modi’s statements and gestures.
After imitating the Prime Minister’s interactions with foreign counterparts, Mani mimicked an incident in which Modi paused a speech to ask that a chair be brought for an elderly woman and said, “Maa ko kursi do.”
Several BJP leaders criticised the Leader of Opposition for entertaining what they called insensitive behaviour. In a post on X, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami wrote that laughing at “indecent remarks” about the Prime Minister’s late mother exposed one’s political culture. “Such insensitivity and mockery are unacceptable at any cost,” he added.
Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ‘chaiwala’ & ‘neech aadmi’ attack
Perhaps the Congress’s most costly verbal misstep came from former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, whose “chaiwala” taunt at Modi ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections became political fodder for the BJP.
Speaking at a Congress conclave, Aiyar said, “Main aapko vaada karta hoon ki is ikkisvi sadhi mein Narendra Modi kabhi bhi iss desh ke Pradhan Mantri nahi banege… Yaha aakar chai vitharana karna chahte he toh uske liye hum unko jagah rakhenge” (I promise you that Narendra Modi will never become Prime Minister in the 21st century. If he wants to come here and distribute tea, we will make space for him).
The BJP turned the remark into a campaign weapon. Modi’s identity as a chaiwala became central to his pitch, which emphasised his humble origins and contrasted them with Rahul Gandhi’s dynastic inheritance.
The election results made Aiyar’s prediction particularly awkward—the Congress was reduced to a record-low of 44 seats in the Lok Sabha, while Modi became Prime Minister.
Aiyar landed in trouble again in 2017 when he called Modi a “neech aadmi” (low-life). The row began after Modi accused the Congress of invoking B.R. Ambedkar’s name to seek votes while attempting to erase his contribution to nation-building, at the inauguration of the Dr Ambedkar International Centre.
Aiyar responded, “Ye aadmi bahut neech kisam ka aadmi hai, iss mein koi sabhyata nahi hai, aur aise mauke par is kisam ki gandi rajniti karne ki kya avashyakta hai?” (This man is of a very low sort, is uncivilised. What is the need to play dirty politics on such an occasion?)
The remark came just two days before the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections that year. Modi seized on it, telling an election rally in Surat that the insult was also an attack on his humble origins and Gujarat, and urging voters to respond through the ballot box.
As in 2014, the Congress distanced itself from Aiyar’s comments. This time, however, the party suspended him. Rahul, then Congress president, said in a post on X, “Both the Congress and I expect him to apologise for what he said.”
Sonia Gandhi’s ‘merchant of death’ barb
Another Congress President who found herself at the centre of a controversy over a remark against Modi is Sonia Gandhi.
While campaigning in Gujarat in 2007, five years after the 2002 riots, Sonia referred to those ruling the state as “maut ke saudagaron” (merchants of death), triggering a political storm.
She later defended the remark before the Election Commission, which had issued her a notice saying her statement amounted to a violation of the model code of conduct. Sonia said she had not referred to anyone in particular, but to the Gujarat administration which did not exclude Modi, who was the Chief Minister.
Lalu’s dig at Modi and Shah
Congress leaders were hardly alone in taking personal swipes at Modi and Shah. Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav also had a few choice words for the duo.
While campaigning for the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Lalu likened Modi to a hijra (a term used in a derogatory manner for transgender people). “Hijra bhaiyon ki tarah taali baja baja ke bolta hai” (Like our transgender brothers, Modi keeps clapping as he speaks), he said.
In the same speech, Lalu called Shah a genda (rhinoceros), referring to an incident in which the BJP leader had become stuck in a lift in Patna. “Amit Shah genda hai. Genda nahi hota to lift mein na phasta. Agli baar aaye to bata de, hum baalti mein bitha ke tanga denge” (Amit Shah is a rhinoceros. Otherwise, he would not have got stuck in a lift. Next time he comes, we’ll put him in a bucket and hoist him up).
Shah did not respond directly to the insults. Instead, he labelled the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party the “KaSaB” alliance, invoking the name of Ajmal Kasab, the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist convicted and hanged for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Udhayanidhi’s ‘double entendre’ at Trisha
Personal attacks in politics are not confined to the Hindi heartland. In Tamil Nadu, Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin spent several hours in police custody in August after a remark was interpreted as a double entendre on actor Trisha Krishnan, a close friend of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay.
On 3 August, Udhayanidhi was addressing a rally and criticising Vijay over his alleged inaction on the long-running Cauvery water dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka when the crowd began chanting Trisha’s name. Responding to the chants, he said, “Whether the water reaches anywhere else or not, it should reach there.”
Leaders of the Tamizhaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) condemned the remark, and the party’s women’s wing filed a police complaint on 4 August. Udhayanidhi was subsequently taken to a police station and released later that day after the DMK approached the Madras High Court.
Parineeth is a TPSJ alum, currently interning with ThePrint.
(Edited by Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam)
Also Read: BJP’s selective outrage over insults reveals a new culture in Indian politics