BJP files FIR over ‘abuse’ of PM’s late mother during Rahul’s Bihar yatra

Alleging that abuse was hurled at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mother during Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar, the BJP on Thursday (August 28) claimed that the Congress-led INDIA bloc would be “punished” by the people in the upcoming Assembly polls.

A BJP delegation from the state also lodged a complaint at the Kotwali police station on Thursday in connection with Wednesday’s incident in Darbhanga town, from where Gandhi, his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had left for Muzaffarpur on a motorcycle.

Reacting to the episode of a video clip purportedly from Darbhanga district going viral on social media, Deputy Chief Minister and former BJP president Samrat Choudhary said “the mob behavior was characteristic of RJD hooliganism. And the Congress is putting up with rowdy behavior in its blind quest for power.”

The video clip shows a small podium at which no prominent leaders were present, but a person shouting an expletive into the microphone, who can be heard but not seen, received scolding from passersby.

PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

“There was huge anger among party workers who burnt an effigy of Rahul and Tejashwi. We are also gathering evidence and looking forward to filing another FIR,” said Aditya Narayan Jha ‘Manna’, head of the BJP’s district unit in Darbhanga.

In Patna, Choudhary added: “The law must take its own course against those who abused the Prime Minister’s late mother. But one thing is clear, the INDIAN bloc will not be forgiven by the people of Bihar…it will be punished in the polls.” Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a former BJP president, also issued a statement asking Gandhi and Yadav to apologize for the behavior of their alleged supporters.

Speaking to reporters after filing the police complaint, BJP media in-charge Danish Eqbal said, “Just look at the timeline of INDIA bloc. First, they invite to the yatra Revanth Reddy and MP Stalin, both known for abusing Bihar. Then their workers abused the Prime Minister.”

Reddy, the chief minister of Congress-ruled Telangana, and his Tamil Nadu counterpart Stalin, who leads the DMK, had joined the Yatra on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Reacting to the development, state Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari said, “It is not our party, but the BJP, which is known for its ‘gali-galauj’ (abusive language). There is so much resentment against the ruling NDA that people have started expressing their displeasure from the podiums. Yet we are stopping people from doing so and explaining to them that such behavior is the habit of the BJP, not that of the Congress. RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said huge crowds gathered for the yatra.

“How do we know which party supporter used such language with which hidden agenda? The matter should be investigated. Moreover, civility of speech has always been violated by BJP, never by INDIA bloc,” he said.

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