Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi likening his political rivals in Uttar Pradesh to a “Scam” – Samajwadi Party, Congress, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati – the Congress has come up with its own expansion for the abbreviation. “We will tell you what ‘Scam’ means in Hindi – it is ‘satta bhogi, kapti dhongi Amit Shah Modi’ [Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah are enjoying the government’s power and fooling citizens cunningly],” said party spokesperson Tom Vadakkan.

“Instead of addressing what the roadmap is, we hear him [Modi] speak on abbreviations. He is extremely worried because he has realised the faults what demonetisation has done across the country,” Vadakkan added, according to PTI. Modi had made the statement at a campaign rally in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress leader then came up with a number of expansions for “BJP”. He called the it the “bhagoda jugadu party [party of absconders]”, “baichara jalao [burn the deprived] party”, “bhai bhateejawad [nepotism] party”, “bhrashtachar jagao [renew corruption] party” and “bhramjaal jagao party [party that creates illusions]”. “Is it correct for the prime minister of India to say this? The prime minister needs to withdraw the statement,” Vadakkan said.

Similarly, the BSP did not take lightly to Modi’s remarks either and asked him to focus on the scams of his own BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, stating the examples of Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi, as well as the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh. “It is ironical that the prime minister, his party’s chief ministers and other government higher-ups who have themselves been involved in multiple scams are making such far-fetched remarks,” BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria told ANI.

Moreover, at a campaign raly in Unnao, UP, Akhilesh Yadav came up with his own expansion for “Scam”. “Scam se desh ko bachana hai. We need to ‘Save our Country from Amit Shah and Modi,’” the Samajwadi Party leader said.