Rahul Gandhi did not call Chhath puja a ‘drama’; claim by Modi, BJP camp false

by Ankita Mahalanobish

Rahul Gandhi’s comments on Chhath puja at an election rally in Bihar have raised a political storm. It is being claimed that the Congress MP called Chhath puja, celebrated primarily in north Indian states, a ‘drama’.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on October 30, called Congress and RJD “shameless” while criticizing Gandhi’s comments. Slamming the Opposition coalition in Bihar, Modi claimed, “Congress and RJD have insulted Chhathi Maiyya for votes” by calling Chhath puja a “drama”. “For them (RJD-Congress), the puja of Chhathi maiya is a drama,” these were the PM’s exact words. (5.34 minute onwards in the following video.)

The deputy chief minister of Bihar, Samrat Choudhary, shared a clip of Rahul Gandhi’s speech and remarked that Gandhi had no regard for Bihar’s culture and faith, alleging that Gandhi attributed Chhath Mahaparv as “drama”. (Archive)

BJP supporter Raushan Sinha, who peddles misinformation and communal propaganda on a regular basis from his X handle, @MrSinha_, claimed that Rahul Gandhi had said “Chhath puja is a drama”. He added that Gandhi had begun the Bihar election campaign by “abusing Hindus”. (Archive)

The same claim was also made by X user Political Kida (@PoliticalKida), who calls themselves “Lie Detector, Hypocrisy Slayer.” They wrote, “Rahul Gandhi just called Chhath Puja a drama”. (Archive)

Fact Check

We reviewed Rahul Gandhi’s speech delivered on October 29, 2025, at Muzzafarpur and found that he did not use the word ‘drama’ for the deity Chhath or the rituals associated with her puja. Instead, he used the term ‘drama’ while criticizing PM Modi’s performance of it. 

In the part of his pre-poll address that has gone viral, the Congress leader’s exact words were: “Ek taraf Yamuna, jisme gannda pani, itna gannda ki koi piley, ya utar jaye toh bimar paad jaye. Aur ek taraf chotasa Modi ji ke liye talab. Dur dur se pipe se paani ata hai. Ek Hindustan, Modi ji wala Hindustan.

Agar Modi ji ko drama karna hai… Chatth Puja ka drama karna hai, toh pani aa jayega, video camera aa jayenge. Saaf pani, aur usike 10 gaaj dur Hindustan ki sacchai.

Ek taraf natak, Ambani Adani ka Hindustan, Narendra Modi ka drama, aur dusri taraf Hindustan ki sacchai, gannda pani aur bimari… TV pe wo pipe dikkh gaya, ki Narendra Modi ji nahane ayenge, Baki Hindustan gannde pani meh nahayega. Aur Narendra Modi ji k liye saaf pani ayega pipe meh, talab banaya jayega, aur Modi ji drama karenge. Yeh pure Hindustan neh dekha.”

Translation: “On one side, there’s the Yamuna — its water so filthy that if someone drinks it or even steps into it, they’ll fall ill. And on the other side, there’s a small pond made especially for Modi ji. Clean water is brought from far away through pipes. Thre is India and there is Modi ji’s India.

If Modi ji wants to put on a drama… if he wants to do a Chhath Puja drama, then suddenly the water appears, the cameras appear. Clean water for Modi ji — and just ten yards away, the real India, with dirty water and disease.

On one side, there’s the performance — the India of Ambani, Adani, and Narendra Modi’s drama. And on the other side, there’s the truth of India — dirty water and suffering. The whole country saw it on TV — that pipe through which clean water was being brought for Narendra Modi to bathe, while the rest of India bathes in polluted water. For Modi ji, a pond is built, clean water flows in through a pipe, and then Modi ji performs his drama. The entire country witnessed this.”

It is clear from a mere perusal of these lines that the word ‘drama’ referred to what Gandhi perceived as PM Modi’s performance of Chhatth Puja. Gandhi again mentioned the word, drama, later in his speech, but surely did not refer to Chhath Puja.

At 59:18 seconds, Gandhi again said, “Drama bana rakha hai.. Ek taraf Modiji drama kar rahe hai, kehte hai, ‘yeh dekho bhaiyya meh Yamuna ji meh nahaya hu.’ Waha koi Yamuna ji nehi hai. Waha ye talaab hai. Narendra Modi ji apne swimming pool meh nahane gaye, apne talaab meh nahane gaye. Unko Yamuna se kuch lena dena nehi, unko Chhath puja se kuch lena dena nehi. Unhe sirf aapka vote chahiye.”

Translation: “It’s a drama… On one side, Modi ji performs a drama saying, ‘Look, I’m bathing in the Yamuna.’ But in reality, there was no Yamuna there — it was a pond. Narendra Modi went to bathe in his own swimming pool, the pond. He has got nothing to do with the Yamuna or Chhath Puja. All he wants is your vote…”

The controversy arose with the reports that the Prime Minister was to take a dip at Delhi’s Vasudev Ghat on October 28, to offer Chhath prayers. AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj did a video from the spot and accused the BJP of creating a “fake” Yamuna by filling an artificial pool for Modi. In the end, however, he did not visit the site.

To sum up, the claims by PM Modi and the BJP camp that Rahul Gandhi had called Chhath Puja a ‘drama’ is false.

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