From clown prince to cockroach — how India’s political leaders refer to each other

File image of Amit Shah | @AmitShah/Twitter

Cutting across the political spectrum, India’s leaders have often picked some of the choicest epithets to take a jibe at one another. Here are a few.

New Delhi: Defending his party over the controversial Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday called Congress president Rahul Gandhi a “clown prince” who is trying to “out-clown himself”.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala then hit back by posting on Twitter, “India needs a Finance Minister, Not a ‘Babble Blogger’ Mr Jait-Lie.”

Surjewala also called the finance minister a court jester.

Such descriptions for political rivals, showing degeneration in public discourse, are not a new phenomenon. ThePrint takes a look at some of these barbs made by the political leaders in the past:

‘Indian Prime Minister is a thief’

While addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi last month, Congress president Rahul Gandhi indirectly called PM Narendra Modi a thief.

“The statements made by Hollande clearly mean that the Indian Prime Minister is a thief,” Gandhi said.

On 21 September, former French President Francois Hollande indicated that the Indian government had pushed Dassault to partner with Reliance Defence for the Rafale fighter jet deal.

‘Naali ka Keeda’

Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey sparked a controversy with his remark that the Congress president suffers from “some mental disease like schizophrenia” and “is no more than a naali ka keeda”.

Choubey said this when reporters asked him about Gandhi’s Kailash Mansarovar visit, in Bihar’s Sasaram last month.

‘Neech kism ka aadmi’

In December last year, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar called PM Narendra Modi “neech kism ka aadmi” after he accused the grand old party of undermining B.R. Ambedkar’s legacy.

Aiyar said, “Ye aadmi bahut neech kism ka aadmi hai. Is mein koi sabhyata nahi hai aur aise mauke par is kisam ki gandi rajniti karne ki kya avashyakta hai”. (This man is a low-life, he isn’t cultured… why does he need to do dirty politics).

Although the Congress immediately suspended Aiyar from primary membership of the party for this remark, the suspension was revoked in August.

‘Babar bhakt and kin of Khilji’

Last year, BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao tweeted that the Congress chief is a “Babar bhakt and kin of Khilji”.

On the 25th anniversary of the Babri Masjid’s demolition, he wrote on his Twitter account, “Rahul Gandhi has teamed up with Owaisis, Jilanis to oppose Ram temple in Ayodhya. Rahul Gandhi is certainly a “Babar Bhakt” & a “Kin of Khilji”.

Selling tickets like a ‘sex worker’

In July 2016, while talking to the media, BJP leader Dayashankar Singh compared a political rival to a “sex worker”.

Referring to a rival party leader, he said, she is “selling tickets like a prostitute. She gives tickets for Rs 1 crore and if there is someone who can give Rs 2 crore, then within an hour she sells it for Rs 2 crore… she is even worse than a sex worker”.

‘White -skinned woman’

In April 2015, Union minister Giriraj Singh courted controversy with his racist remarks
against former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

He said, “Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her leadership?”

‘Kaha Raja Bhoj, Kaha Gangu Teli’

In August 2013, then health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad made a remark, “Kaha Raja Bhoj, Kaha Gangu Teli” to suggest that there is no comparison between Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi.

BJP leaders claimed that it was a “casteist remark” as Modi belongs to the Ghanchi (OBC) community in Gujarat. ‘Telis’ of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also belong to the OBC category.

‘The cockroach can survive a nuclear attack’

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi had in August 2013 compared then external affairs minister Salman Khurshid to a “cockroach”. Lekhi said if there was a nuclear attack on India by Pakistan, “only one person will survive and that will be Salman Khurshid because only cockroaches can survive the nuclear attack”.

‘Modi is Bhasmasur’

In June 2013, then union minister Jairam Ramesh had called Narendra Modi Bhasmasur, a mythological character known for trying to destroy his creator.

Taking a dig at Modi, then Gujarat CM, Ramesh said, “Modi is Bhasmasur. He will consume the people who have created him. He has consumed his mentor, Mr Advani. He has consumed Togadia, one of his co-conspirators in 2002 and he is nothing but a Bhasmasur”.

‘Monkey challenging the king of the jungle’

Way back in November 2012, then Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia compared then CM Narendra Modi with a “monkey”.

Speaking at a poll rally in Junagadh, Modhwadia said, “He is like a monkey who is challenging the king of the jungle (Manmohan Singh) to a duel from the top of a tree…”.

BJP filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Modhwadia for breach of model code of conduct over his statement.

‘Maut ka Saudagar’

In the run-up to the 2007 Gujarat assembly elections, Sonia Gandhi slammed then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi by calling him “Maut Ka Saudagar”.

Speaking at an election rally in Navsari and Rajkot, she said: “The truth in today’s Gujarat is that those who run the government are liars, corrupt and (Dharm aur maut ke saudagar) peddlers of religion and death”.

‘Jersey cow’ and ‘hybrid calf’

In 2004, during Advani’s Bharat Uday Yatra in Gujarat, then CM Modi compared Sonia Gandhi with a “jersey cow” and her son Rahul with a “hybrid calf”. Sonia responded to the abuse by saying, “I welcome it (the abuse); it must mean we are doing something right”.