BJP says Congress hit new low with Modi meme, Maharashtra unit deletes post

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday attacked the Congress over a social media post that used the caption “Control Uday Control” with a video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Indonesia visit. The video posted by Congress national media panellist Surendra Rajput was still live on X at the time of writing, while Maharashtra Congress deleted its post after the controversy. Control Uday Control pic.twitter.com/FNnOXecdTh — Surendra Rajput ‏ (@ssrajputINC) July 7, 2026 BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla called the post “disgusting to the core” and accused the Congress of using a vulgar innuendo against the Prime Minister during an official foreign visit. The clip used in the Congress posts showed Modi seated near a woman during an event in Jakarta. The Congress caption, taken from the Hindi comedy film Welcome, was read by the BJP as a suggestive attack on Modi. “After 150 abuses directed at PM Modi personally and at his mother, family and samaj, now Congress stoops even lower and doesn’t shy away from dragging another woman, that too from a host nation at the time of a foreign visit,” Poonawalla said. He alleged that the Congress’s hostility towards Modi was linked to its inability to accept a “chaiwala OBC PM” and described the party’s conduct as “Ghatiyapan Ki Dukaan”. Disgusting to the core After 150 abuses directed at PM Modi personally & at his mother, family & samaj - now Congress stoops even lower and doesn’t shy away from dragging another woman- that too from a host nation at the time of a foreign visit Congress essentially hates a… pic.twitter.com/Y4d6SpUe65 — Shehzad Jai Hind (Chowkidar as per INC ecosystem) (@Shehzad_Ind) July 8, 2026 Woman in clip identified as Lopamudra from Indian diaspora The woman in the video has been identified as Lopamudra, also referred to as Lopa Mudra, an Indian from Odisha who has been living in Jakarta for around 15 years. The clip was from the welcome events around Modi’s visit to Indonesia, not a bilateral meeting with Indonesian officials. In the ANI video from the event, Lopamudra was seen expressing happiness and excitement over Modi’s visit and spoke about having lived in Jakarta for several years. The woman was not an Indonesian official being shown in a formal bilateral meeting. She was an Indian diaspora member in Jakarta who appeared to be welcoming the Prime Minister during his visit. The BJP’s “host nation” criticism came from the fact that the clip was from Indonesia. But the stronger point is that a positive diaspora moment was turned into a suggestive political meme. Congress accounts used an innocent clip of an Indian woman abroad expressing excitement over the Prime Minister’s visit and added a caption that the BJP said was meant to sexualise the moment for political mockery. Congress social media under scrutiny again Congress has used social media aggressively to target Modi and the BJP in recent years. Some campaigns have focused on unemployment, price rise, crony capitalism and governance failures. But personal attacks on Modi have often helped the BJP convert the issue into a counterattack. The “chaiwala” jibe became part of Modi’s 2014 political narrative. The “chowkidar chor hai” campaign was countered by the BJP’s “Main Bhi Chowkidar” push in 2019. Aiyar’s “neech” remark also hurt the Congress during the Gujarat election campaign. The “Control Uday Control” post gives the BJP a similar opening. It allows the party to argue that Congress’s anti-Modi politics repeatedly slips from policy attack to personal contempt. The fact that the clip involved an Indian woman from the diaspora during a foreign visit gives the controversy an additional emotional and political edge.