UP minister tries to stop Rahul’s convoy over Modi’s mother’s ‘insult’

Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh on Wednesday (September 10) squatted on a highway to stop local MP Rahul Gandhi’s convoy and demand an apology for alleged abuses hurled at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mother by a man during Congress’s Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar.

However, Rahul, who is on a two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency Raebareli, passed by the protesters and reached his destination safely.

The minister and his supporters sat down on the highway at Kathwara while Rahul was on his way to Harchandpur. The BJP workers raised slogans holding placards with messages of “Rahul go back” and “Desh ki maon se maafi maango” (apologise to all the mothers in the country).

Singh later claimed that Rahul had taken a diversion out of the “fear” of BJP workers but Rahul was seen in videos crossing the stretch with the BJP protesters thronging the roadside.

Also read: Why Oppn wants to keep mum as Modi rakes up 'mother insult' row

‘Rahul should have condemned remark’

“Rahul Gandhi also has a mother. He should not give anyone the right to abuse someone else’s mother. He should have condemned those who used such words for a mother. He should have said that he does not support them, that he would punish them, remove them from the party, and express regret over their mistake,” Singh told reporters.

He said if the Congress leader had spoken against the alleged abuse, people would have considered it appropriate. “Instead, Rahul Gandhi seems to encourage them further, as if he wants more such abusive remarks to be made against mothers. This protest in Raebareli was against that,” the minister said.

Also read: Tejashwi calls PM Modi’s emotional outburst ‘impure politics’

Darbhanga resident arrested

Last week, a purported video of a person screaming an expletive into a microphone on a small podium erected by a local Congress leader on the outskirts of Bihar’s Darbhanga went viral, even as the organiser claimed that no party functionary of consequence was present at the time.

The 25-year-old Darbhanga resident who made the comments has been arrested but tempers continue to be frayed, with the BJP hitting the streets over the issue and its workers entering into fisticuffs with Congress leaders at the opposition party’s state headquarters.

Also read: Opposition in Bihar to counter Modi’s ‘mother insult’ charge with aggression

Modi’s emotional message

In his first reaction to the incident, Modi on September 2 said he was “deeply pained”, but asserted that while he might forgive the RJD and the Congress, the people of the state will never “pardon them”.

“My late mother had nothing to do with politics. What was her fault? Why was she abused?” he asked, choking with emotion.

“I may forgive them for once, but the people of this country have never brooked any insult to any mother. It is now the duty of every son of Bihar to hold the RJD-Congress combine accountable for their conduct. In every town and street, wherever their leaders go, they must get the message loud and clear that insult to mothers and sisters will not be tolerated,” Modi had said.

(With agency inputs)