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‘Party of comedians’: BJP slams Rahul’s Modi mimicry act at Chatron ki Goonj event
They labeled the party a circus, urging Rahul Gandhi to pursue comedy. Congress defended the act, claiming it wasn’t meant to offend.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Congress, calling it a party of “comedians and jokers”, and attacked leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, a day after a stand-up comedian performed mimicry of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event of the Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh.
In the video shared by the Congress on X, stand-up comedian Pulkit Mani was seen mimicking PM Modi while performing a skit with Gandhi during the latest edition of the “Chatron ki Goonj” event in Indore on Saturday.
Reacting sharply in a post on X, Union minister Piyush Goyal asked Gandhi to “look in the mirror”.
“Asanskari naraz fufa (uncultured disgruntled uncle). The irony writes itself. The need to come on stage every now and then just to drag Prime Minister Modi ji’s name into cheap political theatre never fails to amaze me,” Goyal said in the post, replying to the political skid video shared by the Congress.
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In a series of post on X, Union minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the Congress, saying, “I hadn’t imagined that a party which was in power for nearly six decades would turn into such a circus that is busy entertaining their own shrunken supporters.”
Indians are proud that Prime Minister Modi is the “most popular” elected leader of the world, he said.
“Congress party has become a party of comedians and Jokers! They are out forever.... RIP,” Rijiju said. “Do you feel absolutely no shame in mocking an elderly mother and the Prime Minister of India?” he asked Gandhi, posting a video of PM Modi in which he is seen asking for a chair to an elderly woman who had come to attend his programme in the past.
‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ is a Congress campaign pitched as a nationwide movement against paper leaks, exam irregularities and rising fees. At the Indore edition on Saturday, a video of which Congress shared on social media, stand-up comic Mani is seen laughing and hugging Gandhi on the stage while mimicking PM Modi.
Also Read | Mimicry of PM Modi at Rahul Gandhi event irks BJP: ‘Mother isn't subject of politics’
Maharashtra chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said: “Rahul Gandhi should leave this party and become a stand-up comedian…Because he’s already rendered his own party jobless, at least as a stand-up comedian, he’ll have some employment.”
BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan said, “Rahul Gandhi yesterday was once again seen indulging in phoney theatrics,” and added, “The youth of our nation will never believe Rahul Gandhi’s fake narrative.”
Congress leaders, meanwhile, rejected the BJP’s allegations and defended the programme and the mimicry performance.
“...To even think of creating any kind of negative narrative around this is, in a way, a sin. She (Modi’s mother) wasn’t mocked,” Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief Jitu Patwari said. Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel also hit back at the BJP’s criticism. “Everyone’s mother is a mother, not PM Modi’s mother alone. Why are their feelings not hurt when they insult Rahul Gandhi’s mother or other leaders’ mothers?”
(With PTI inputs)
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