A seemingly stung Congress hastened to make amends by ordering its Kerala unit to delete the controversial post. Representational file image.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
An attempt by the Congress in Kerala to take a satirical dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union Government’s proposal to take beedis off the list of ‘sin goods’, which attract the highest slab of taxes, ahead of the Assembly elections in largely rural Bihar, appeared to have backfired.
In an apparent attempt to pull off a sardonic wordplay depicting the proposed lower tax on beedi as a bid to entice rural voters, the INC@Kerala wrote on X: “Bidis and Bihar start with B. Cannot be considered sin anymore.”
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary fired the first salvo at the Congress, calling the “offensive remark” an insult to “Biharis”.
He said the Congress had revealed its “true character” earlier by insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “revered mother”.
Other top BJP leaders, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, followed suit. Mr. Prasad said Bihar’s electorate would punish the Congress for holding the people of the State in derision. The BJP dared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, a Congress ally, to disavow his coalition partner and uphold the self-respect of Biharis.
Post taken down
A seemingly stung Congress hastened to make amends by ordering its Kerala unit to delete the controversial post.
Subsequently, the INC@Kerala posted on X: “We see that our jibe at Modi’s election gimmick with GST rates is being twisted. Our apologies if you felt hurt.”
The Congress in Kerala had found itself on the defensive in a similar situation in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections when its regional social media handle attempted to play a satire on Mr. Modi’s high-profile tête-à-tête with Pope Francis on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy in June 2024.
The INC@Kerala posted a picture of Mr. Modi alongside the Pope and captioned the photograph with the punch line: “Finally, the Pope got a chance to meet God.” The party’s dig at Mr. Modi’s purported claim that his birth had a divine purpose appeared to boomerang badly, after a section of Church leadership joined the BJP in condemning the post as “derisive”.
Published – September 05, 2025 09:32 pm IST
