Fresh Controversy over Congress Releasing AI-Generated Video of Modi’s Late Mother

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 12: After allegedly using expletives against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mother from a Congress platform about a fortnight back, the party has sparked yet another controversy by releasing an AI video on her “rebuking” her son for “using” her for votes.

In retaliation, the BJP invoked Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of the last viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten, and alleged that the former prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru bound by personal attachment, crushed national interests.

As the controversy over AI video of Mr Modi’s mother snowballed on Friday with the BJP quickly accusing the Congress of “stooping down to a new low,” the Congress doubled down, saying nobody had been disrespected and the video was about a parent educating her child. “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. 

Mr Khera’s comments came after the BJP alleged that 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, was an insult to all women and that the Congress was stooping to new lows. 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.

“The Congress is stooping to new lows. First, expletives were used against Prime Minister Modi’s mother from a Congress stage. Now, the party is insulting her again by creating an AI-generated video of her. Bihar and India will not tolerate this insult. Making such a video and putting words into the mouth of the Prime Minister’s mother, who is no longer with us, is unfortunate. The Congress should rise above this shamelessness. It will pay for this in the elections as the people of Bihar are very angry,” Mr Hussain said.

BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh also said the video mocked the sentiments of mothers in the country. “It is unfortunate that the Congress has released an AI video of PM Modi’s mother. They are mocking the sentiments of crores of mothers in this country. For us, mothers are revered like Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Congress leaders must apologise immediately,” he said.

Mr Khera who heads the Congress party’s media and publicity department, said nobody had been disrespected and claimed that the BJP was trying to use the issue to garner sympathy. On the video showing Mr Modi dreaming about his late mother who is “lambasting him over his political games, Mr Khera said, “Where is the disrespect shown to his late mother? Show me one word, one gesture, one signal… anywhere you see disrespect. It is the duty of parents, and their right, to educate their children. She is only educating her child. Now if the child thinks that it is disrespectful towards him, it is his headache, not mine or yours,” Mr Khera said.

“Why does the BJP try to make an issue out of everything and try to generate fake sympathy? There is no sympathy on these things anymore. PM Modi can’t do ‘touch-me-not’ politics. He is in politics and he needs to take everything – even a sense of humour of the opposition- properly.  And there is no humour in it, there is ‘naseehat’ (advice) in this.”

Addressing women during an event earlier this month, PM Modi had spoken about the expletives used against his mother by party supporters during an INDIA bloc rally and said the opposition had insulted every mother and sister. “In Bihar, expletives were used for my mother from an RJD-Congress stage. These expletives have insulted not just my mother, but every mother and sister in India. I know you are as pained as I am after you heard this… My mother, who had nothing to do with politics, was subjected to vile abuses from the RJD-Congress platform. This is deeply saddening, painful, and distressing,” he had said.

Recalling the role played by his mother in his life, the Prime Minister had added, “My mother would be sick, but she kept working. She would save up every penny to get clothes made for us. There are crores of such mothers in our country. The place of a mother is higher than that of gods and goddesses.”

Calling the AI-generated video “painful,” the Union minister Giriraj Singh took a jibe at Congress and dared the party to make an AI video of Pandit Nehru and Mountbatten. “Seeing this today was really painful. The fraud Congress-RJD people disrespected PM Modi’s late mother. Through AI technology, they made her say ‘halki baatein’ and did such a lousy thing,” Giriraj Singh said.

“I challenge them, what would they do if I made an AI video of Nehru and Mountbatten?” he added. In a separate post on X, the union minister invoked Edwina Mountbatten. “History is witness that at decisive moments of power, Nehru remained entangled more in Edwina Mountbatten’s allure than in the nation’s interest. When India needed strong leadership, he repeatedly surrendered, bound by personal attachments. Personal relationships crushed national interests. Ensnared by Edwina’s charms, Nehru repeatedly put India’s land, identity, and future at stake,” Giriraj’s post read.

Several BJP leaders accused the Congress of taking a vow to “repeatedly insult” PM Modi’s mother. Union Minister Piyush Goyal also attacked the Congress saying the party was creating new records of depravity every day. “Frustrated after being repeatedly rejected by the public, Congress, with a distorted mentality, is now set on creating new records of baseness every day,” Goyal said in a post on X.