The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday staged protests across several parts of the country against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, demanding an apology from him and from Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over remarks Kharge made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's late father at an event in Patna a day earlier.
The demonstrations, which the BJP had announced on Sunday evening, turned a heated exchange at a commemorative function in Bihar's capital into a full-blown national political confrontation, with leaders on both sides trading accusations about language, decorum and intent.
The controversy began on Sunday at Patna's Bapu Sabhagar, where Kharge was speaking at a programme marking the 139th birth anniversary of Bihar's first chief minister, Shri Krishna Singh, popularly known as Shri Babu.
Addressing the gathering, Kharge said the Congress would send to jail those involved in alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, an exercise that has already become a major point of contention between the ruling alliance and the opposition in Bihar. It was at this point that an audience member interrupted him, shouting that Prime Minister Modi would not go anywhere.
Kharge responded with the remark that has since dominated the political debate, saying in Hindi, "Modi ka baap bhi jayega, baap bhi jayega," which translates roughly as "Even Modi's father will have to go." The words, spoken in the heat of an exchange with a heckler, were quickly clipped, circulated on social media and picked up by television channels, prompting an immediate and sharply worded reaction from the BJP leadership.
Within hours, the party announced that it would hold nationwide protests on Monday against what it described as an insult to the prime minister's late father.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah led the BJP's response, accusing Kharge of breaching every norm of political decorum. Shah said the language used by the Congress president was of the kind once associated with street toughs, and argued that it reflected a deeper pattern in which the Congress, under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, repeatedly crossed limits of decency.
He pointed to earlier episodes in which, he said, the Congress had insulted the prime minister's late mother, described him as a merchant of death and mocked his humble background by calling him a chaiwala. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also condemned the remark, describing it as a violation of political decorum that crossed into personal abuse against a deceased family member.
The protests on Monday took place in Delhi, Patna and several other cities. In the national capital, BJP leaders and workers gathered near Kharge's residence on Rajaji Marg, raising slogans against the Congress president and demanding an apology. Police stopped the protesters when they attempted to march from the Sena Bhawan circle towards the residence, and the demonstration remained confined to the area around the protest site.
In Patna, BJP leaders and supporters took out a Jan Akrosh March from the party headquarters to Income Tax Golambar, a distance of about 300 metres, and burnt an effigy of Kharge. The march was led by Bihar BJP president Sanjay Saraogi, who said all limits had been crossed when a platform meant to honour Shri Krishna Singh, whom he described as the architect of modern Bihar, was used to make abusive remarks about the prime minister's late father.
The Congress, for its part, has pushed back against the BJP's reading of the episode. Party media head Pawan Khera said a BJP worker in the audience had first insulted Kharge's own late father, shouting that even if Kharge's father came, Modi would not go. According to Khera, Kharge's retort was directed not at the prime minister's biological father but at his ideological father, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the remark had been taken out of context.
The man who interrupted Kharge, identified as Santosh Kumar from Chhapra, later described himself as a dedicated Congress worker and said party workers had mistaken him for a BJP supporter and assaulted him while escorting him out. He said his own words had been misunderstood and that he had meant to say Modi would not go unless there were widespread protests against him.
A police complaint has also been filed against Kharge in Bihar by a BJP worker, adding a legal dimension to a row that had until then been fought largely through statements and street protests. The BJP's allies also joined the condemnation. Leaders of the Lok Janshakti Party and the Janata Dal (United) described the remark as unfortunate and reflective of the Congress's frustration and lack of political decorum, widening the circle of criticism beyond the BJP itself.
The episode has once again put the spotlight on the language of political debate in India, particularly in the run-up to elections in Bihar, where the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists has already sharpened tensions between the two sides.
The Congress has made alleged irregularities in the revision process a central plank of its campaign, arguing that eligible voters risk being struck off the rolls, while the BJP and the Election Commission have defended the exercise as a routine updating of electoral lists. Kharge's original speech was firmly in that vein, promising action against those responsible for any wrongdoing in the process, before the interruption changed the course of the event entirely.
For the BJP, the remark offered an opportunity to turn the tables on the Congress and to rally its workers around an emotive issue, the honour of the prime minister's family. For the Congress, the task now is to contain the damage without appearing to retreat from its criticism of the government. Whether Kharge or the party offers any form of clarification or apology remains to be seen, but the demand for one is unlikely to fade quickly.
The BJP has made clear that it intends to keep the issue alive, and the protests on Monday were presented as only the first step in that campaign.
What happens next will depend on how both parties calibrate their responses. If the Congress stands its ground and insists the remark was misinterpreted, the row could continue to dominate headlines for days, feeding into the charged atmosphere of the Bihar campaign. If it offers a clarification that satisfies at least some of its critics, the temperature may come down, though the BJP is unlikely to let the matter drop entirely.
Either way, the exchange at Bapu Sabhagar has become a symbol of how quickly a single sentence, spoken in a crowded hall, can reshape the national political conversation.
(Reporting based on The Indian Express, The Statesman, The New Indian Express and The Daily Pioneer.)