On 27th August, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, became the subject of political ridicule after he accidentally referred to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, at a ‘Voter Adhikar’ rally in poll-bound Bihar. The gaffe was captured on video and was later clumsily patched by DMK tech teams to replace “Rajiv” with “Rahul”. However, the edit was glaringly out of sync and remained visible on Stalin’s official YouTube channel.
Thiru @mkstalin’s government in TN thrives on patchwork and deception.
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) August 27, 2025
Going all the way to Bihar and getting the name wrong despite reading it from a piece of paper is one thing, but the desperate attempt to patch it up is even more telling. pic.twitter.com/IicVupwQkk
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seized on the slip. Former Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai branded Stalin’s regime a “patchwork government” while posting unedited and patched versions online. Actor-politician Vijay’s TVK also joined in to mock the CM and call the episode comic relief.
The BJP, however, pushed beyond the blooper, highlighting past disparaging remarks by DMK leaders about Biharis and branding Stalin’s Bihar appearance alongside Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav as a desperate charade by “hopeless dynasts”.
