‘Threats to my life’: ex-Congress MP Shakeel Ahmad accuses party after calling Rahul Gandhi ‘coward’

Congress in damage-control mode as ex-MP Shakeel Ahmad accuses party of intimidation over Rahul Gandhi criticism

January 27, 2026

Congress Rift Deepens: Shakeel Ahmad Alleges Threats Over Rahul Gandhi Criticism

Congress hits back, brands Shakeel Ahmad a ‘Jaichand’

Former Congress MP and senior leader Shakeel Ahmad on Monday claimed that his life was under threat, days after he publicly labelled Rahul Gandhi a “darpok” (coward) and accused him of running the Congress in a dictatorial manner.

Ahmad, a three-time MLA and two-term MP from Bihar, alleged that the Congress high command had issued instructions to party workers to attack his residences in Patna and Madhubani under the guise of burning his effigies. He said he was “secretly informed” about the plan by colleagues within the party.

Calling the alleged threat “an assault on democracy,” Ahmad took to social media platform X to flag the issue. In a separate post, he shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp group chat in which members were allegedly urged to burn his effigies for criticising Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking to NDTV, Ahmad said he had received multiple phone calls from Congress leaders warning him that party workers had been mobilised against him. “My opinion can be wrong, but I have every right to express it in a democracy,” he said.

The former Union minister further alleged that the orders had come directly from the party’s top leadership. “It is very obvious who is behind this,” Ahmad said, directly holding Rahul Gandhi responsible for the alleged intimidation.

Ahmad, who quit the Congress after the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, accused Gandhi of promoting only those young leaders who flatter him, while sidelining senior leaders with independent political standing. He described the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha as “insecure,” “dictatorial,” and “non-democratic.”

He also mocked Gandhi over his defeat in the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, saying the Congress leader failed to retain even a constituency nurtured by his own family. “Rahul Gandhi is uncomfortable around senior leaders and anyone with mass support. That is why he behaves like a dictator,” Ahmad told PTI.

The BJP seized on Ahmad’s remarks, claiming they had exposed the “true nature” of Rahul Gandhi. BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said Gandhi’s public image of tolerance and democracy stood “completely exposed,” accusing him of carrying an “Emergency-era mindset.”

Congress leaders, however, closed ranks around Rahul Gandhi. Congress whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore slammed Shakeel Ahmad, branding him a “betrayer” and likening him to “Jaichand,” a name synonymous with treachery in Indian folklore.

Tagore accused Ahmad of attacking the party leadership for “TV time, relevance, and pleasing new political masters,” asserting that such criticism was not ideological but opportunistic. He said the Congress had seen many such defectors in the past and would see more as elections approached.

The escalating war of words has laid bare deepening fault lines within the opposition party, even as it seeks to project unity ahead of crucial electoral battles in 2026.

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