The Kerala Congress on Saturday admitted to an error in judgment after a controversial social media post attempting to link Bihar with “bidis” sparked a huge political storm. The party has since deleted the post and issued a public apology.
Reports said that Kerala party unit's social media head, VT Balram, resigned amid the controversy over the post.
KPCC president Sunny Joseph acknowledged that there was a "mistake" and "lack of caution" when posting the "bidis and Bihar" jibe on the party's state unit's social media handle.
KPCC president Sunny Joseph acknowledged the misstep in an interview, stating that the party's social media team made a "mistake and lack of caution" when publishing the remark on platform X (formerly Twitter).
"The post has been deleted. The responsible persons - admin of the social media handle and the person who operates it, withdrew it and tendered an apology. The Congress does not endorse that," Sunny Joseph told a TV channel.
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Joseph added that the matter was discussed with former legislator VT Balram, who is in charge of KPCC's digital media cell.
What was the controversial post?
{{/usCountry}}Joseph added that the matter was discussed with former legislator VT Balram, who is in charge of KPCC's digital media cell.
What was the controversial post?
{{/usCountry}}The now-deleted post, which was published on the KPCC's official handle in the context of the recent GST rate changes, attempted to link Bihar with Bidis, a tobacco-laden substance.
The post read: "Bidis and Bihar start with B. Cannot be considered sin anymore."
Congress's post-trigger row
The post was reportedly made to target the Modi government's recent GST revisions, which included a rate cut on bidis. However, the post quickly went viral, drawing sharp backlash for its perceived regional insensitivity and derogatory tone towards Bihar.
Leaders of Bihar’s ruling alliance hit out at the Congress over the post. Bihar deputy chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Samrat Choudhary called the post an "insult to the entire Bihar".
"First, the insult to the revered mother of our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and now the insult to the entire Bihar— this is the true character of the Congress, which is repeatedly being exposed before the country," Samrat Choudhary posted on X.
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Sanjay Kumar Jha, a member of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU), also slammed the Congress, calling it “another extremely shameful act” by the Opposition party.
BJP's national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla sharply reacted to the post and said the “Congress crosses the line again”.
“Congress crosses the line again. After abusing PM @narendramodi ji mother now compares Bihar with Bidi ! Does Tejaswi Yadav endorse this? From Revanth Reddy to DMK to Congress- their hatred for Bihar is evident,” Shehzad Poonawalla wrote.