Rajnath Singh slams Kharge over remark on PM Modi's father
Synopsis
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has strongly condemned Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for a remark made in Patna about PM Modi's late father, calling it evidence of Congress's political, ideological, and moral decline, and warning the public will deliver a fitting reply.
Key Takeaways
Rajnath Singh said a remark by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Patna about PM Modi's late father left him 'stunned and hurt.' Singh argues the conduct has escalated from rank-and-file workers to the party's top leadership, deepening the transgression.
He drew a clear distinction between legitimate political opposition — questioning policies, criticising government — and targeting the personal lives or family of leaders.
Singh called Congress's behaviour a sign of its 'desperation and ideological vacuum' and declared it 'ideologically and morally bankrupt.' He warned that crores of Indians have been hurt and that the public will deliver a 'fitting reply.' The episode reflects a recurring BJP–Congress flashpoint over campaign decorum that tends to intensify near elections.
A remark made at a rally in Patna by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's late father has drawn a sharp, personal rebuke from Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh — one of the BJP's most senior and typically measured voices — on Sunday, 25 October 2026.
Posting in Hindi on X, Singh did not mince words: 'पटना में कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष मल्लिकार्जुन खरगे जी द्वारा प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी के पूज्य पिताजी के प्रति की गई टिप्पणी ने मुझे स्तब्ध और आहत किया है।' ('The comment made by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Patna about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's revered father has left me stunned and hurt.')
From rank-and-file taunts to a party president's platform
Singh's post draws a pointed line of escalation. He argues that mocking PM Modi's humble family origins was once the domain of ordinary Congress workers and lower-rung leaders — a practice he had long found objectionable. Now, he contends, the same conduct has reached the party's highest office. 'When a party's top leadership itself forgets the dignity of language,' he wrote, 'how can decency be expected from its workers?'
The Defence Minister specifically frames the Kharge remark as part of a pattern: personal insults substituting for ideological opposition, family members being weaponised as political targets, and disagreement expressed through indecency rather than argument. He calls this combination an expression of Congress's 'desperation and ideological vacuum' — हताशा और वैचारिक शून्यता.
Singh's message to the Congress: oppose policies, not families
The sharpest passage in Singh's post sets out what he calls the permissible grammar of democratic contest. 'Oppose in a democracy, question policies, criticise the government,' he writes — 'but do not violate personal boundaries.' It is a rebuke framed less as partisan point-scoring and more as a plea for a floor of political civility, which adds rhetorical weight coming from a former Home Minister known for a relatively restrained style.
Singh closes with a direct verdict: Congress has suffered not merely a political decline but an 'ideological and moral bankruptcy.' And he ends with a warning addressed implicitly to voters: 'By insulting the Prime Minister's family, Congress has hurt the sentiments of crores of Indians. The public will certainly give a fitting reply to this insult.'
BJP–Congress decorum wars: a recurring flashpoint
The exchange is the latest in a long-running cycle in which both the BJP and the Indian National Congress have accused each other of crossing personal lines while defending their own rhetoric as legitimate criticism. Such flare-ups tend to intensify ahead of elections, with each side seeking to frame the other as the aggressor on standards of discourse. Kharge, who became Congress president in 2022, has previously clashed verbally with the BJP over similar propriety disputes.
What makes Sunday's post notable is the source: Rajnath Singh's intervention signals that the BJP's leadership sees electoral capital in projecting outrage — and that the party intends to keep the Patna remark alive in the news cycle rather than let it pass.
Point of View
The BJP attempts to shift election-season discourse from policy performance to cultural propriety — a terrain where it has traditionally polled well. The invocation of 'crores of hurt Indians' is a deliberate mobilisation cue, not merely a statement of personal offence. How Congress responds — whether it defends, retracts, or reframes Kharge's Patna remarks — will determine whether the BJP succeeds in making this the defining image of Congress's current campaign posture.
NationPress
25 Oct 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Mallikarjun Kharge say about PM Modi's father in Patna?
The specific wording of Kharge's remark at the Patna event has not been independently verified, but Rajnath Singh's post states that Kharge made a comment about PM Modi's revered father that Singh described as stunning and hurtful, and part of a pattern of personal attacks on the Prime Minister's family.
Why did Rajnath Singh react so strongly to Kharge's comment?
Singh said the remark crossed from legitimate political opposition into personal indignity. He argued that when a party president — the top leadership — uses such language, it sets a standard that workers will follow downward, and it attacks the dignity of Indian democracy itself.
What exactly did Rajnath Singh say about Congress on X?
Singh said Congress has experienced not just a political decline but an 'ideological and moral bankruptcy,' that it has been substituting personal insults for genuine ideological opposition, and that by targeting PM Modi's family it has hurt the sentiments of crores of Indians.
Is this the first time BJP has accused Congress of targeting PM Modi's family?
No. Singh himself notes in his post that Congress workers and lower-level leaders had previously mocked PM Modi's humble family background and used indecent language about his mother. This is a recurring point of contention between the two parties.
What is Mallikarjun Kharge's position in the Congress party?
Mallikarjun Kharge has been the President of the Indian National Congress since 2022 and previously served as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He is the party's highest constitutional authority.
