NEW DELHI/PATNA: The BJP on Thursday alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' in Bihar had crossed all "limits of insult, hate and tastelessness", claiming that abuses were directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother during the campaign.
The party, on its official X handle, refrained from posting the video of the incident, but clips shared online by a few accounts showed some unidentified people using a Hindi abuse for Modi from a dais during the Yatra.
The video, which has gone viral, is purportedly of Darbhanga district from where the Yatra had taken off on Wednesday morning, when Gandhi, his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav left for Muzaffarpur on motorcycles.
PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
Several podiums had been erected along the route for local party workers who tried to mobilise public sentiments in favour of the INDIA bloc ahead of assembly elections due later this year.
The BJP said, "Tejashwi (Yadav) and Rahul are behind the use of such filthy language that it cannot be repeated from a public platform... Such lowliness was never seen before in politics. This Yatra has crossed all limits of insult, hate and tastelessness."
They have used a very vulgar language against the prime minister's late mother, it said.
The ruling party claimed that the choice of such abusive words for his mother shows the state of the opposition's desperation, as Gandhi and Yadav had earlier invited leaders like M K Stalin and Revanth Reddy, chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Telangana, respectively, who are accused of "insulting" people of Bihar.
People of Bihar will not forgive Gandhi and Yadav, the main campaigners for the RJD, for such a mistake, even if they apologise a thousand times, the BJP said, calling the incident "extremely shameful".
BJP's Darbhanga district chief Aditya Narayan Jha 'Manna' said, "We are not going to take this insult lying down. We have burnt effigies of Rahul and Tejashwi and are going to lodge a police complaint, seeking a probe and action against those involved in hurling expletives".
A senior Congress leader requesting anonymity said, "We cannot say who the people are whose voice is there in the video. Workers of at least half-a-dozen parties are taking part in the yatra."
The INDIA bloc, which is known in Bihar as Mahagathbandhan or grand alliance, includes three Left parties and former state minister Mukesh Sahni's Vikassheel Insan Party.