Shah asks Rahul to apologise for ‘insulting’ PM Modi’s mother

Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday described Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar as a ‘Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra’ (protect infiltrators march), accusing the party of shielding its alleged votebank of infiltrators.

Shah also condemned the use of abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mother during a rally in Darbhanga, after a video of the incident went viral. From the same stage, Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had set off on motorcycles to Muzaffarpur.

“The kind of negative and low-level politics Rahul Gandhi has initiated was visible when in one of the rallies during his ‘Ghuspaithiya Bachao Yatra’, Prime Minister Modi’s mother was abused. I strongly criticise this from the core of my heart,” Shah said in Guwahati while inaugurating a new complex at the Raj Bhavan.

The Union Home Minister alleged that Congress leaders, from Sonia Gandhi to Mani Shankar Aiyar, had repeatedly insulted Modi, but such attacks had only strengthened the BJP electorally. “Tell me, if intruders infiltrate the voters list, how will the nation remain secure?” Shah asked. He also demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi to Modi, his late mother and the people of India, adding, “There can be no greater decline in public life and politics than abusing Modi’s mother, who raised a son in a poor household and he is now a world leader.”

Rahul Gandhi is currently on a state-wide ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar, highlighting the issue of vote theft. The Congress, meanwhile, launched a sharp counterattack on Shah, accusing him of peddling falsehoods to distract from the public response to the yatra.

“Shah is a 2-in-1 WMD – a Weapon of Mischievous Distraction and a Weapon of Malicious Defamation,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posted on X. He added that Shah, “rattled, disturbed and unnerved by the extraordinary response of the people of Bihar to the Congress’s yatra, is spreading lies about Rahul Gandhi and other leaders.”