Last week, a man from Bihar was booked in three separate FIRs – for morphing Rahul Gandhi’s face onto a sanitary pad in a video mocking a Congress campaign to distribute pads across the state.
The BJP sprang into action to defend this as free speech.
Amit Malviya, chief of the BJP’s IT cell, ostensibly went into crisis-PR mode, calling it a matter of the “voice and dignity of Bihar’s youth”, and if it was being “bartered through Congress governments in Karnataka and Telangana”. Because what better symbol of youth dignity than a man who cross-dresses on Instagram to slut-shame women and crack jokes about their fertility?
राहुल गांधी और तेजस्वी यादव के इशारे पर आरजेडी-कांग्रेस मिलकर बिहार के युवाओं पर कर्नाटक और तेलंगाना से एफआईआर दर्ज करवा रहे हैं। आरजेडी की मिलीभगत से कांग्रेस यह साज़िश कर्नाटक और तेलंगाना की अपनी सरकारों से करवा रही है।
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) July 7, 2025
पहले कांग्रेस ने बिहार की महिलाओं के आत्मसम्मान का मज़ाक… pic.twitter.com/QvY2dhIxsi
Enter Ratan Ranjan. Self-styled comedian. Instagram creator with 1.48 lakh followers. And now, thanks to the BJP’s endorsement, apparently the moral compass and cultural spokesperson for Bihar’s youth.
Among other things, Ranjan specialises in skits aimed at mocking opposition leaders, laced with generous helpings of sexism, homophobia, and conspiracy theories. In other words, the algorithm’s favourite cocktail.
In his now-deleted viral clip, Ranjan superimposed Rahul Gandhi’s face onto a pad to deride the Priyadarshini Udaan Yojana, a sanitary napkin distribution drive by the Bihar Mahila Congress. At least three FIRs followed – in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Cuttack. But not before Ranjan made rounds on local TV, declaring that Congress was endangering women’s safety and distributing pads laced with black magic and chemicals.
Yes, black magic. On sanitary pads. To reduce Hindu fertility. That’s the “youth voice” Malviya is rallying behind.
The deleted video
Here’s the skit in question, which was since deleted from Ratan’s social media platforms but is available on other handles: Ranjan is seen wearing a saree, holding a sanitary pad packet with a picture of Rahul Gandhi. Ranjan pulls out a pad with Gandhi’s photo on it.
“Ye aap andar kya kar rahe hain? Ab hum isko lagaye toh kaise lagaye? Andar jaake kya karenge Rahul ji. Isiliye kaha tha Rahul ji aap shaadi kar lete toh aaj ye din na dekhna padta (What are you doing inside? Now, how are we supposed to put this on? What will we even do once we go inside, Rahul ji? That’s why we told you, Rahul ji, if only you had gotten married, you wouldn’t have to face this situation today),” he says.
Though his original video has now been removed from his social media, Ranjan, in an interview with A2Z News, shows the pad with the morphed image and admits that it was fake.
Ranjan also gave interviews to various local media outlets where he opposed the campaign. His argument: “Who is Rahul Gandhi to distribute pads to our wives?”, “Are we not capable of giving sanitary pads to our wives?”, “I will take care of my wife, not Rahul Gandhi.”
In another interview, Rajan asks if Congress’s workers go to his home when he’s not there, and they misbehave with the women in this home, who would be responsible?
“Mere ghar ki mahilaon ki toh izzat kharab ho gayi (The women in my house will lose their dignity),” he adds.
In an interview with Public Mitra, he says that the Congress uses black magic and chemicals on sanitary pads to reduce the population of Hindus. “Dadi ne jis tarah se nasbandi karke Hinduon ki sankhkya kam kiya tha, ab pota pad baatke, kala jaadu karke, isme chemical mila ke Hindu mahilaon ko baat rahe hain (Just like the grandmother [Indira Gandhi] reduced the Hindu population through sterilisation, now the grandson is sitting and distributing this – doing black magic, mixing chemicals in it, and giving it to Hindu women).”
He also claimed that the Congress is not distributing the pads to Muslim women so that Hindu women can use the pads and are unable to give birth in the future.
Misogynistic content
Across many reels, Rajan’s common target has been Neha Singh Rathore, a Bhojpuri folk singer and political satirist.
Recently, supposedly as a reference to a Facebook video about planting trees on her wedding anniversary posted by Rathore, Ranjan made obscene remarks about her fertility and appearance. He says that if this was some other woman, in three years of her marriage, she should have had three children and should have celebrated the birthday of the third child.
“Paudha bhi kahan laga rahi hai? Banjar zameen pe. Toh zameen bhi banjar aur iska…bhi banjar. Toh na paudha hoga na bacha hoga (And where is she planting the sapling? On barren land. So the land is barren, and so is her… barren. So there won’t be a sapling, nor will there be a child),” he says.
‘Sympathising’ with Rathore’s husband, he says, “Iska pati andar-andar khoon ke aasun ro raha hai. Ye kisse maine shaadi kar liya (Her husband might be crying tears of blood on the inside, asking, ‘Who did I even marry?’).”
Commenting on her short hair, he says, “Ek toh iske tedhe-medhe udjhalu baal, itne chote-chote. Usse bada toh mera kahi aur ka baal hai (First of all, look at her messy, scruffy hair – so short and thin. I have hair somewhere else that’s longer than that).”
In another vile reel mocking Rathore’s original video, he cross-dresses, calls himself ‘Neha Khalifa,’ and says, “Meri shaadi ke saalgirah hai, aur iss afsar pe main do shilajit ka ped lagaungi taaki log shilajit kha sake aur apna kaam kar sake (It’s my wedding anniversary, and on this occasion, I’m going to plant two shilajit trees so that people can consume shilajit and do their work properly).”
He then adds, “Ka ba? Ka ba? Dono hath mein shilajit ba (What’s this? What’s this? There’s shilajit in both hands).” Shilajit is often marketed as a natural aphrodisiac.
The words ‘ka ba?’ is a clear reference to Rathore, who has a series of satirical ‘Ka Ba’ songs that focus on political and social issues.
In another skit, ‘Neha Khalifa’ visits a gynaecologist, where she complains about not being able to have a child, “Pati ba, lekin ganpati na hot ba (I have a husband but not a child).”
The doctor replies, “Modi ji ke peeche nahi padna hai, pati ke aage jhukna hai. Tab jaake baccha hoyega (You shouldn’t be after Modi ji, you should bow before your husband. Only then will you have a child)”, and adds, “Mard banke jo ka ba ka ba puchte rehte ho, aurat bano phir jaake apne aap hoga baccha (You keep acting like a man, going around asking ‘What’s this? What’s this?’ – become a woman, then you’ll have a child naturally).”
Ranjan mocks other women as well, using similar misogynistic overtones.
In another vulgar reel, supposedly mocking a woman who was at a loss for breath after a protest outside the Israeli Embassy, Ranjan cross-dressed and continuously chants “Free Philistine” while pretending to gasp for air. The video is titled “Free Philistine karne wali librandu.”
In a reel where Ranjan cross-dresses as Jyoti Malhotra, an Indian YouTuber arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan, he makes obscene gestures while saying “Maine Pakistan ko apna tan, man, dhan aur stan bhi samarpit kar diya hu (I sacrificed my body, mind, money, and breasts for Pakistan).”
In another reel, he dresses as a Muslim girl rescued from Iran during the Iran-Israel conflict and mocks the students for wanting to be sent to Kashmir by flight and not by bus. The video is titled “Iran se vapas aa rahe muftkhoro ko ghar jaane ke liye free ka flight chahiye (Freeloaders returning from Iran want free flight to return home).”
Amit Malviya, responding to the FIR filed against Ranjan, wrote, “Kya Bihar ki mahilaon ka samman mangna ab apradh ho gaya hai?” BJP Goa’s official account also posted Ranjan’s video on X.
Newslaundry reached out to Ranjan for comment. This report will be updated if he responds.
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