New Delhi, 28 August

Alleging that abuses were hurled at the late mother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Rahul Gandhi's ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar, the BJP on Thursday asserted the Congress-led INDIA bloc will be "punished" by the people in the upcoming assembly polls.

A delegation of the state BJP also lodged a complaint at the Kotwali police station on Thursday in connection with Wednesday’s incident in Darbhanga town, from where Gandhi, her sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had left for Muzaffarpur on motorcycles.

Reacting to the episode of a video clip purportedly of Darbhanga district, which has gone viral on social media, Deputy Chief Minister and former state BJP president Samrat Choudhary said "the behaviour of the crowds was characteristic of the RJD's hooliganism. And the Congress puts up with rowdy behaviour in its blind quest for power".

The video clip is of a small podium on which no prominent leader was present, but a person screaming an expletive into the mic, who can be heard but not seen, met with admonition from bystanders.

PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

"There has been tremendous anger among party workers who have burnt an effigy of Rahul and Tejashwi. We are also gathering evidence and look forward to lodging another FIR," said Aditya Narayan Jha ‘Manna’, the BJP's district unit chief in Darbhanga.

In Patna, Choudhary added, "The law must take its own course against those who had abused the PM's late mother. But one thing is clear, the INDIA bloc will not be forgiven by the people of Bihar... it will be punished in the polls."

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a former state BJP president, also came out with a statement, asking Gandhi and Yadav to tender an apology for the behaviour of their alleged supporters.

Talking to reporters after lodging the police complaint, state BJP media in-charge Danish Eqbal said, "Just look at the chronology of the INDIA bloc. First, they invite to the yatra Revanth Reddy and MK Stalin, both of whom have been known for abusing Bihar. Then their workers abuse the PM".

Reddy, the Chief Minister of Congress-ruled Telangana, and his Tamil Nadu counterpart Stalin, who heads the DMK, had joined the Yatra on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Reacting to the development, state Congress spokesman Asit Nath Tiwari said, "It is not our party, but the BJP, which is known for ‘gali-galauj’ (abusive language). There is so much resentment against the ruling NDA that people have begun venting spleen from podiums. Still, we stop the people from doing so and explain to them that such behaviour is the BJP’s wont, not that of the Congress."

RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari said huge crowds have been turning up for the yatra.

“How do we know which party's supporter had used such language with what hidden agenda? The matter should be investigated. Moreover, civility of discourse has always been violated by the BJP, never by the INDIA bloc," he said.