BJP and Congress clash over Modi mimicry at Indore event

A political controversy has erupted after standup comedian Pulkit Mani mimicked Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a skit with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi at the Chhatron Ki Goonj student event in Indore on Saturday, September 19, 2026. In a video shared by the Congress on X, Mani performed a brief act with Gandhi that included Modi-style phrases, and at one point he said, pointing toward the audience, "Maa ko kursi do, maa", a line the BJP interpreted as a mocking reference to the Prime Minister's late mother. BJP leaders reacted sharply on Sunday. Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Kiren Rijiju criticised Gandhi on X, with Goyal calling him an "asanskari naraz fufa" and accusing him of dragging the Prime Minister's name into cheap political theatre. Rijiju said the Congress had become a "party of comedians and jokers" and asked Gandhi whether he felt no shame in mocking an elderly mother and the Prime Minister. Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi accused Gandhi of moral bankruptcy, while the BJP's national account on X described the episode as a contrast between what it called Modi's politics of values and Gandhi's politics of showmanship.