Triggering a controversy, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam on Wednesday called Narendra Modi "illiterate", while criticising the state government's decision to screen a short film on the prime minister's life at schools in Maharashtra. His comment drew sharp reaction from BJP leaders with the party's Maharashtra unit spokesperson Shaina NC calling Nirupam "mentally deranged."

"The decision to screen the film forcibly is wrong. Children should be kept away from politics. What will students learn from watching a film on an uneducated and illiterate person like Modi," the Congress leader told a news channel. "Children and people do not know how many degrees the prime minister holds," he said. Later, asked by reporters about his choice of words, Nirupam said the ruling party need not object to each and every word, and "in democracy the prime minister is not god".