In Bihar, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has called for a statewide five-hour bandh on Thursday, led by its women’s wing, to register their protest against alleged derogatory remarks made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother during the Congress-led Voter Adhikar Yatra. The shutdown, scheduled from 7 a.m. to noon, will see essential and emergency services remain unaffected, while the NDA leadership has assured that inconvenience to the general public will be kept minimum.
The controversy erupted after a video purportedly from Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Darbhanga showed an unidentified man using abusive language against the Prime Minister and his deceased mother. The remarks sparked widespread condemnation within the NDA, with leaders framing the incident not just as a personal insult to Modi’s mother but as an affront to motherhood as a whole. BJP state president Dilip Jaiswal denounced the abusive comments, saying the words were unacceptable in public life and deeply offensive to democratic values and cultural traditions. Echoing his remarks, JDU state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha described the incident as an example of “indecent and abusive language,” while Hindustani Awam Morcha state chief Anil Kumar claimed it reminded people of the “jungle raj” days in Bihar.
Prime Minister Modi himself reacted strongly to the incident, terming the insult unimaginable and painful. Addressing a public gathering, he stated that motherhood is sacred, symbolizing both dignity and respect, and expressed disbelief that such remarks could be made from a political stage in Bihar, a state long known for its cultural traditions. “Mother is our world. Mother is our self-respect. I had not even imagined what happened a few days ago in this tradition-rich Bihar. My mother was abused from the stage of RJD-Congress,” the Prime Minister said.
On the other hand, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its allies in the INDIA bloc dismissed the NDA’s response as politically motivated. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the BJP of being unsettled by the popularity of the Voter Adhikar Yatra, which he claimed had covered over 1,300 kilometers across 25 districts and attracted significant public support. He alleged that the bandh call was a sign of the BJP’s “fear and frustration,” labeling the Prime Minister’s emotional response “impure and insincere.” According to him, while no one condones insults directed at mothers, the BJP itself has a history of crude and offensive public remarks against other political leaders, making its outrage questionable.
The incident, which occurred in Darbhanga on August 27 as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Tejashwi Yadav left for Muzaffarpur, led to the swift arrest of a 25-year-old local man accused of making the comments. Congress and the broader INDIA bloc, however, distanced themselves from the accused, insisting that he was not affiliated with any of their constituent parties.
The bandh and its surrounding controversy highlight the increasingly confrontational atmosphere in Bihar’s political landscape, where issues of personal attacks, public decency, and political credibility continue to dominate the discourse in the run-up to crucial electoral battles.
