PoliticsCongress vs BJP
Kharge's 'Modi ka baap bhi jayega' jibe in Patna sets off BJP protests across the country
The Congress president's retort to a man in the crowd drew condemnation from Amit Shah, Nitin Nabin and Rajnath Singh. The BJP will protest at every state headquarters on Monday.
Key points
- Mallikarjun Kharge told a heckler in Patna that 'Modi ka baap bhi jayega', even Modi's father would go.
- Amit Shah said Kharge had 'torn apart all norms of decorum' by referring to the Prime Minister's late father.
- The BJP will hold protests at all its state headquarters on Monday and wants an unconditional apology.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge set off a fresh row with the BJP on Sunday when, answering a man in the audience in Patna, he said from the stage: “Modi ka baap bhi jayega.” Even Modi’s father would go.
By evening, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and a string of Union ministers had condemned the remark as an insult to the Prime Minister’s late father. The BJP said it would hold protests at all its state headquarters on Monday and demanded an unconditional apology.
What happened in Patna
Kharge was speaking at a function to mark the 139th birth anniversary of Shri Krishna Sinha, Bihar’s first chief minister. He was attacking the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and said the Congress would send those behind irregularities in it to jail. He also accused the BJP of “stealing votes” and Modi of failing to bring back black money as he had promised.
A man in the crowd called out that Modi would not go anywhere unless there was a rebellion. Kharge shot back with the line, and repeated it.
The man was later reported to have been pushed out of the hall by Congress supporters. Outside, he was reported as saying that only part of what he said was heard, and that he too wanted Modi to go.
The BJP’s response
Shah wrote on X that Kharge had “torn apart all norms of decorum by making an indecent remark about Modi ji’s father in Patna”. “This is not the first time that the Congress party has used abusive language against Modi ji or his family,” he said. “Under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, the Congress party keeps crossing the limits of indecency every day.”
Nabin called the language “indecent and unparliamentary” and said it reflected the Congress’s “ideological bankruptcy”. The public, he said, was watching “indecent politics very closely and will give it a befitting reply in due time”.
Rajnath Singh said that dragging political disagreement into abuse was “not just an insult to one individual or family, but an assault on the dignity of Indian politics as well”. J P Nadda said: “People of the country will surely deliver their response to such petty politics through democratic means.”
The party’s official X handle went further. “This isn’t a political party anymore, it seems more like a mafia gang,” it said. Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary asked Kharge and Rahul Gandhi to apologise at once, and Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asked whether Kharge should stay on as party president.
Congress digs in
Kharge did not comment further on Sunday. Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel defended him, saying the phrase was an everyday colloquial expression thrown back at a heckler, not a personal insult. He pointed to remarks by Modi in past campaigns, including the “50-crore girlfriend” jibe and the mangalsutra controversy, as examples of the Prime Minister’s own language.
Other Congress leaders argued the remark was a reaction to provocation from the floor.
What comes next
BJP state units have been told to hold “peaceful but firm” demonstrations on Monday. The row lands in a week already crowded with confrontation over the SIR: the INDIA bloc plans a “public impeachment” of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on 30 October and a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on 1 November.