Cong dubs PM 'serial abuser', hits out for lowering public discourse

A war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP over uncouth remarks on social media with the Opposition party describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "serial abuser".

A day after it tendered an apology for mocking Modi's tea-seller background, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi listed out a series of controversial remarks made by BJP leaders, including the prime minister, the latest by party member Paresh Rawal.

"BJP is mother and producer of derogatory, insulting, foul language...the sheer brazenness with which BJP escapes any blame after indulging in crude, crass and coarse language is appalling... we demand the BJP apologise for lowering quality of public discourse," Singhvi told reporters.

The Congress listed several instances where Modi allegedly made derogatory remarks by calling former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a "night-watchman", Congress President Sonia Gandhi a "jersey cow" and   Rahul Gandhi a "hybrid calf".

Singhvi also recalled that the prime minister had likened the Congress to "termite" while campaigning in Himachal Pradesh.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram referred to Bihar BJP President Nityanand Rai's threats of chopping of fingers and hands raised against the Prime Minister.

Chai-wala vs bar-wala

Actor-turned-Parliamentarian Rawal had hit out at the Congress for mocking Modi's tea-seller origin. "Chai-wala is any day better than your bar-wala," the Lok Sabha member had tweeted without elaborating. Later, Rawal deleted the tweet and apologised for his act.

"The prime minister is leading such a discourse...like there are serial killers, the prime minister and the BJP are serial abusers," Singhvi said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took a swipe at the Congress over the "chaiwala" meme aimed at Modi.

"It is the strength of the Indian democracy which allowed a person from a humble background defeat the mightiest; those who do politics in the name of family and dynasty," he said.

"There is no big or small family in democracy today. If Congress has not learnt this lesson, it will never learn it," Jaitley said.