Shakeel Ahmad, a three-time MLA and a two-term MP from Bihar, had called Rahul Gandhi a ‘darpok’ (coward) and an insecure leader.
Former Congress MP Shakeel Ahmad on Monday claimed threats to his life, days after he called senior leader Rahul Gandhi a ‘darpok’ (coward) and an insecure politician.
Ahmad, a three-time MLA and a two-term MP from Bihar, said that he has been “secretly informed” by his Congress colleagues that the national leadership of the party has issued orders to “carry out an attack” at his residences in Patna and Madhubani on Tuesday on the pretext of burning his effigies.
“This is against the principles of democracy,” he wrote on X.
In a separate post, he also shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp group chat in which a person had asked other group members to burn Ahmad’s effigies for speaking against Rahul Gandhi.
अब तो मेरी जानकारी बिल्कुल सही साबित हुई। काँग्रेस के पुराने साथियों का बहुत धन्यवाद।
हमारे बिहार में एक कहावत कि
पुराने दोस्त ही काम आते हैं।
क्या यह राहुल जी के आदेश के बिना हो रहा है? pic.twitter.com/qtgBCemfH4— Dr Shakeel Ahmad (@Ahmad_Shakeel) January 26, 2026
Speaking to NDTV on Tuesday, Ahmad said that he received multiple phone calls from his “friends” in Congress, who told him that the party workers have been told to attack him.
He said that his opinion can be wrong, but he has “every right to express it.”
The former Union minister and ex-general secretary of the Congress also said that it was “very obvious” that Gandhi was behind the “order”.
Last Saturday, Ahmad had called Gandhi a ‘darpok’ (coward) and claimed that he is only promoting young leaders who sing his paeans in the party.
Ahmad, who quit the Congress after the Bihar assembly elections in 2025, said Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, finds himself uncomfortable in the presence of senior leaders who have a public standing.
He also called Gandhi “dictatorial” and “non-democratic” and claimed he does not listen to senior colleagues in the Congress.
He also slammed Gandhi for losing the Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh when he was the Congress president and said that he could not even win the seat once nurtured by his forefathers and family due to his attitude.
“Rahul Gandhi is a coward and an insecure person. He does not get that ‘boss feeling’ before anyone who is senior to him or has a big public support. He is uncomfortable with any such person and is thus dictatorial and not democratic,” Ahmad told the news agency PTI.
The BJP seized on Ahmad’s remarks and said that he has “exposed” Gandhi.
“Shakeel Ahmad has exposed Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi keeps showing that he is the most tolerant and democratic person, but the reality is something else. He is the most dictatorial person and has the same Emergency-mindset that Indira Gandhi had,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said.
Congress Calls Shakeel Ahmad Betrayer, ‘Jaichand’
Congress leader Manickam Tagore hit back at Shakeel Ahmad for his remarks against Rahul Gandhi and called him a ‘betrayer’ and a ‘Jaichand’.
“I am not shocked. Just saddened, yet again, by how betrayal becomes loud when courage walks the longest road,” Tagore said in a post on X on Sunday.
He said at a time when the Congress needed unity, voices like Shakeel Ahmad have chosen to attack the very leader who walked over 4,000 kilometres to “defeat hate and spread love”, and 6,000 kilometres through the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to “reconnect India with justice and dignity”.
“Let’s be clear: These attacks are not about ideology or concern. They are about TV time, relevance, and pleasing new masters. This is not new, but this is a new batch of betrayers. Some are ministers in the Modi government, some MPs, one even a present CM (chief minister), many jobless who crossed over. Welcome to the 2026 batch of Jayachands,” Tagore, the Congress’ whip in Lok Sabha, said.
