Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday drew the attention of an audience in poll-bound Bihar to the abuse heaped on his dead mother from an RJD-Congress stage, once again seeking to turn personal invectives into electoral advantage.

Modi told women associated with self-help groups in Bihar during a virtual address that his mother had been subjected to “gandi, gandi galiyan (vile abuse)” and asserted that the insult of his “underprivileged mother” had “humiliated every mother, sister
and daughter”.

“Our mother is our world, mother is our self-respect. I cannot imagine what happened in Bihar, so rich in traditions. My mother was abused from the stage of the RJD-Congress in Bihar. These abuses are not just an insult to my mother. These are insults to the mothers, sisters and daughters of the country,” said Modi, who as Gujarat chief minister had targeted the Gandhi family, particularly Sonia Gandhi, with derogatory remarks.

This is not the first time Modi has invoked his mother in what his critics claim is an attempt to gain sympathy.

Just over a year in the Prime Minister’s office, he had turned moist-eyed at the Facebook headquarters in the US while recalling the hardships his mother had to endure, including cleaning utensils at other people’s homes to raise her children.

The issue he raised on Tuesday related to a video that emerged last week in which an unidentified person is heard using abusive language against Modi and his mother from a stage to welcome Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders during the Voter Adhikar Yatra. None of the leaders, however, was present on the stage when the abuses were hurled. The person has been arrested.

Key BJP leaders, including home minister Amit Shah, had gone all out to slam the RJD-Congress and demandan apology.

Back from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China, Modi broached the topic on Tuesday.

“My mother separated me from her so that I could serve crores of mothers and sisters like you. You all know that my mother is no longer in this world. Some time ago, after turning 100, she left us. My mother, who had nothing to do with politics, was subjected to vile abuses from the RJD-Congress stage,” Modi said.

“Sisters and mothers, I can see your faces. I can imagine the pain you must have felt. I can see tears in the eyes of some mothers,” he said.

Modi took oblique digs at the Gandhis, saying “princes born in royal families won’t understand the sufferings of an underprivileged mother and her son’s struggles”.

“These people have been born with a golden and silver spoon. They believe power in Bihar belongs to their families. But you have blessed an underprivileged mother’s son and made him Pradhan Sevak. The naamdars (a phrase Modi uses for dynasts in the Opposition) cannot digest this,” he told the audience in Bihar, which goes to polls later this year.

The irony was not lost on many as Modi had attacked Sonia, then Congress president, by calling her a “jersey cow” and her son Rahul a “hybrid bachda (calf)”. During the 2021 Bengal election campaign, Modi had run into criticism over his “Didi-o-Didi” taunt of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra posted on X: “From the Didi O Didi streetside hoot against @MamataOfficialto Jersey Cow & Congress ki Vidhwa against Sonia Gandhiji to 50 crore ki Gilfriend for @ShashiTharoor’s wife, Hon’ble @narendramodi has said it all. Today’s Mind Your Language speech from him is a bit rich!”

On Tuesday, Modi said: “I want to tell those who abused my mother in front of the people of Bihar — Modi might forgive you once, but the land of Bihar and India has never tolerated insults to a mother.”

He recalled that the Opposition had targeted him with a long list of abuses like “neech”, “gandi nali ka keeda”and snake.

Two voter cards

The electoral registration officer on Tuesdayserved a notice to Congress leader Pawan Khera for possessing two voter identity cards in different Assembly segments, following allegations by the BJP to counter Rahul’s “vote theft” campaign.

“It has been broughtto my notice that you havegot your name registeredin the electoral roll of more than one constituency….As you may be aware,that being registered in the electoral roll of more than one constituency is a penal offence… you are therefore, directed to show cause as to why action should not be taken against you…,” the notice said.

Khera accused the Election Commission of bias. “Yetanother confirmation of how the EC functions to supportthe ruling regime. While our complaints of Vote Chori are disregarded, the EC rushes to act against Opposition members,” he wrote on X. He claimed that he had applied to delete his name from the New Delhi Assembly constituency.