PM means 'Panauti Modi': 'Pappu' Rahul gives it back with jibe over World Cup loss

Jaipur: After Australia lifted the Cricket World Cup defeating Team India and leaving millions of Indians heartbroken and flabbergasted, the Hindi word ‘panauti’ has been trending on social media.

Today, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election rally in Rajasthan’s Jalore, when he said “our boys were on the verge of winning the World Cup, till some unlucky person or bad omen came to watch it (Acche bhale hamare ladke wahan pe World Cup jeet jaate, par panauti harwa diya)."

Without taking Modi’s name initially, he stressed on the word “panauti’’ several times, and said the TV channels would not say this but the public knows this.

The crowd that had gathered to see Rahul also got hooked to the word “panauti” and cheered him along as he repeated it several times during his speech.

Later in a direct reference Rahul said “one person comes on TV and will tell you about Hindu-Muslim, sometimes that person will go to watch a cricket match. it is a different matter that the match was made to be lost deliberately, panauti. PM meaning Panauti Modi."

The word “panauti” meaning one who brings bad luck by just being around has been trending on X after India's loss to Australia in the World Cup final on Sunday. The hashtag #PanautiModi is also trending on the X platform. There are users who are saying instead of criticising the Indian team players, one should understand that it is difficult to fight “bad luck” or a “bad omen”.

Earlier, before the 2014 national elections, the BJP mocked Rahul by calling him 'Pappu'. On social media, the party’s IT cell had ensured that a Google search for 'Pappu', showed a profile of Rahul Gandhi. Pappu got permanently stuck to his name in 2013. BJP leader Amit Shah mocked him several times in rallies calling him 'Pappu'.

However, Rahul later said he was not angry at those who called him 'Pappu'.

Last December, MP Mahua Moitra's speech in the Lok Sabha titled, “Who’s Pappu now”, which attacked the government on several fronts, especially on the economic front, had gone viral. Moitra, meanwhile, has landed herself in a controversy and had to face the Ethics Panel in a 'cash-for-query' allegations.