{"id":2079,"date":"2026-09-20T08:30:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T08:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/20\/congress-bjp-spat-comic-modis-mimicry-indore\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T08:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T08:30:40","slug":"congress-bjp-spat-comic-modis-mimicry-indore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/09\/20\/congress-bjp-spat-comic-modis-mimicry-indore\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress and BJP clash over Modi impersonation at Rahul Gandhi\u2019s Indore event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Delhi \u2013 A comedy routine that lampooned Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rahul Gandhi\u2019s student\u2011focused rally in Indore has reignited the long\u2011standing rivalry between the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The performance, delivered by stand\u2011up comic Pulkit\u202fMani, featured a series of impersonations of Modi\u2019s speech patterns, gestures and public anecdotes, prompting both parties to launch a flurry of statements on the social media platform X.<\/p>\n<h2>The performance and its content<\/h2>\n<p>During the \u201cChhatron\u202fKi\u202fGoonj\u201d programme, Mani took the stage and began mimicking Modi\u2019s characteristic use of the phrase \u201cmy friend\u201d when addressing foreign dignitaries. He repeatedly asked, \u201cMy friend, how are you?\u201d without directly naming the prime minister, a line that drew immediate laughter from the audience. The act then shifted to a mock dialogue in which the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, responded, \u201cI am fine, how are you Modi ji?\u201d Mani answered, \u201cGreat harassment,\u201d and continued to pepper his routine with the \u201cmy friend\u201d refrain while exaggerating Modi\u2019s mannerisms.<\/p>\n<p>The sketch also referenced several items that have featured in recent media coverage of the prime minister. Mani alluded to Modi\u2019s foreign\u2011policy outreach, mentioned the controversy surrounding a Chinese humanoid robot displayed by Galgotias University at the India Global AI Summit, and recreated a coin\u2011trick that Modi performed with schoolchildren, placing a coin on his forehead to the crowd\u2019s cheers. A further gag targeted the prime minister\u2019s mother, with the comic chanting, \u201cMaa ko kursi do, maa,\u201d before laughing and delivering the line \u201cSetting, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following the routine, Gandhi thanked the audience, saying \u201cVery nice to meet you,\u201d and invited Mani to elaborate, prompting the comedian to continue the satire. The entire exchange was recorded and quickly disseminated by Congress\u2019s official X handle, which posted two clips. One caption read \u201cNarendra Modi ki Foreign Policy,\u201d while the other highlighted the repeated phrase \u201cMy friend!! Great Harassment!!\u201d The videos were also shared by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pawan\u202fKhera, who described the act as a \u201cspectacular show of great harassment\u201d that featured the coin\u2011trick.<\/p>\n<h2>Political fallout and broader social media war<\/h2>\n<p>The BJP\u2019s response focused on the reference to Modi\u2019s late mother, which party leaders described as \u201cextremely shameful and painful.\u201d Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar\u202fSingh\u202fDhami posted on X that insulting a mother was unacceptable in any civilized society and accused Gandhi of crossing \u201call limits of propriety.\u201d He added that such remarks \u201cexpose your own political culture\u201d and warned that \u201cthe maternal power of the country is watching everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan\u202fYadav condemned Gandhi\u2019s remarks as \u201cirresponsible, shameful, and unbecoming,\u201d arguing that insulting the prime minister\u2019s mother amounted to an insult to mothers across the nation. Yadav called for an apology, stating that the comments \u201cencouraged the youth\u2019s future in the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This episode is not the first instance of Congress employing satire aimed at Modi. In August, Gandhi participated in a separate event where he hugged party leader Sandeep\u202fDikshit and exchanged jokes about the prime minister\u2019s foreign policy. Dikshit quipped, \u201cYou weren\u2019t hugging me thinking I was Meloni?\u201d to which Gandhi replied, \u201cI haven\u2019t reached that stage yet.\u201d The BJP criticised that exchange as well.<\/p>\n<p>Both parties have also been engaged in a broader social\u2011media confrontation involving AI\u2011generated imagery. Earlier in September, the Congress Kerala unit posted AI\u2011created pictures targeting BJP figures, including an image of a man resembling Amit\u202fShah seated in a Maruti\u202fOmni and another depicting Modi at a railway station. In retaliation, BJP state units from Gujarat, Kerala and Telangana circulated AI\u2011generated visuals aimed at Sonia\u202fGandhi. One Telangana post showed a woman in a bar with the caption \u201cLusiana, Italy. Circa\u20111970s,\u201d referencing the former Italian prime minister\u2019s birthplace.\n<\/p>\n<p>The Congress has announced that it is taking legal action over some of the AI\u2011generated posts, underscoring the increasingly digital nature of political combat in India. As the two parties continue to trade barbs online, the incident in Indore highlights how humor, technology and political sensitivities intersect in contemporary Indian discourse.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A stand\u2011up act that mimicked Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rahul Gandhi\u2019s student rally in Indore sparked a fresh row between Congress and the BJP, with both parties trading accusations on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[1716,219,457,2207,1440],"class_list":["post-2079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-indian-politics","tag-narendra-modi","tag-rahul-gandhi","tag-satire","tag-social-media","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}