From 'chaiwala' taunts to 'maut ka saudagar' — Congress's sharpest barbs against Prime Minister Narendra Modi have a long, documented history. Now, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta is holding that history up against a split-screen she says tells the real story: a sea of supporters in Kashi for Modi, and rows of empty chairs at a rally by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Posting on Monday, 26 October 2026, Gupta shared a video contrasting the two scenes, writing that Congress called Modi 'maut ka saudagar' (merchant of death), mocked him as a tea-seller, and even insulted his parents. Her verdict: the public's response — a jansailab, or flood of people, for Modi, and empty seats for Kharge — is the electorate's own answer to that style of politics.

The insults that defined two decades of BJP-Congress rivalry

The phrase 'chaiwala' was deployed by Congress leaders during the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign to mock Modi's origins as a tea-seller, a jibe that spectacularly backfired when BJP turned it into a badge of pride. The phrase 'maut ka saudagar' — merchant of death — was first used in the context of the 2002 Gujarat riots and became a recurring flashpoint in BJP-Congress exchanges across multiple election cycles.

BJP has consistently weaponised these moments, framing them as evidence that Congress governs by contempt rather than ideas. Gupta's post is squarely in that tradition — using the archive of insults to sharpen a present-day contrast.

Kashi as political theatre: the Modi magnet

Varanasi, known as Kashi, is Modi's parliamentary constituency and one of the most symbolically loaded venues in Indian electoral politics. Large public gatherings there during his visits have become a recurring BJP talking point about his connect with voters. The image of a packed rally in Kashi sits at the heart of Gupta's argument — that no matter how hard the opposition attacks, the crowd doesn't lie.

The contrast with Kharge's reportedly sparse gathering is the rhetorical punch she is landing. It is a combative framing, but the underlying political dynamic — Modi's consistent ability to draw mass crowds versus a Congress organisation still rebuilding its grassroots machinery — is a genuine, observable feature of contemporary Indian politics.

What the BJP-Congress rhetoric war reveals

India's political discourse has long oscillated between policy argument and personal attack. BJP's counter-strategy has been to let the insults accumulate and then present them as a pattern of elite condescension against a man of humble origins — and by extension, against voters like him. Gupta's post is a crisp execution of that playbook.

For Congress, the challenge is the same it has faced for over a decade: distancing itself from language that energises BJP's base more than its own. Kharge, as party president, inherits that liability even when he personally was not the source of every sharp phrase.

The split-screen of a full hall and an empty one is one of politics' oldest and most brutal images. Gupta has deployed it here with precision — and in the charged atmosphere of an election season, it lands like a verdict before the votes are counted.