BJP Fumes Over Video Featuring PM Modi's Mother, Congress Doubles Down

A political storm erupted on Friday after the Bihar Congress posted an AI-generated video on social media platform X (previously Twitter) that appears to show characters resembling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother, Heeraben, in a staged, dream-like exchange.

The 36-second clip, marked “AI GENERATED,” has been widely shared online and is being seen by the BJP as a personal attack ahead of the Bihar elections. The Congress's video, captioned “Maa appears in sahab’s dreams,” comes amid an already heated political climate in Bihar. The BJP has demanded an apology and action against those responsible for posting the video, describing it as a calculated insult aimed at hurting sentiments. Congress, however, has defended the video, saying there's no disrespect towards anyone.

"It is the duty of parents to educate their children. She (PM Modi's late mother Heeraben Modi) is only educating her child, and if the child thinks that it is disrespectful towards him, it is his headache," Congress leader Pawan Khera said.  “Modi cannot do ‘touch-me-not’ politics. He is in politics, and he needs to take everything, even the sense of humour of the opposition, properly. In fact, there is no humour in it, there is naseehat (advice) in this,” Khera further added. The video posted by the Bihar Congress on X, which shows an AI likeness of Heeraben Modi criticising PM Modi for using her to get votes.

BJP MP Radha Mohan Das Agrawal condemned the video, calling it a new low in politics. BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain pointed out that expletives had been used against PM Modi and Heeraben Modi, who died in 2022 at the age of 99, during an opposition rally last month. BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh said the video mocked the sentiments of mothers in the country. 

This is not the first time the Prime Minister's and his mother’s names have been dragged into political controversy. On August 27 in Darbhanga, during the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ led by Congress and RJD, slogans with expletives directed at PM Modi and his deceased mother were allegedly chanted from the stage.

PM Modi responded sharply, saying the incident was “unimaginable” and “an insult to all mothers, sisters, and daughters of the country.” He stressed that his mother had “nothing to do with politics.”