OBC leader and Congress candidate Alpesh Thakore on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi disliked Gujarati food and was fond of Taiwanese mushrooms which cost Rs 80,000 a kg.
Thakore also alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party's Gujarat leaders siphoned off Rs 1,500 crore meant for Banaskantha flood victims.
At an election rally, the Radhanpur candidate said: "Though the Prime Minister claims to be a common man, he is not so. He might claim his love for Gujarat but he dislikes Gujarati food.
"So he eats imported mushrooms from Taiwan priced at around Rs 80,000 a kilo."
Here is Alpesh Thakor with his ridiculous Mushroom theories about PM Modi.. 80,000/ piece and they make you ‘fair’ pic.twitter.com/OQURH14ybS
— Aadit Kapadia (@ask0704) December 12, 2017
"Somebody told me that Modiji has imported mushrooms from Taiwan...Each mushroom costs Rs. 80,000 and PM Modi has five every day...I was told he has had them since he was Chief Minister," remarked Mr Thakor, 40, who is contesting the assembly election from Radhanpur in Patan district.
At this point, his story took a bizarre turn. "So I said, he was dark like me, no wonder he is fair now. I was wondering how he has become gora chitta and glowing like tomatoes. A person who has mushrooms worth Rs. 1 crore 20 lakh a month can't have poor man's food...like roti-dal," he said.
Thakore also accused the BJP of siphoning off the flood victims' entitled government benefits.
"The Rs 1,500 crore which was meant for the Banaskantha flood victims has not reached the beneficiaries but has found their way to the pockets of the Gujarat BJP leaders and workers."
It is not clear what variety of mushroom Mr Thakor was discussing, but a search reveals that the world's most expensive is the rare European white truffle, which costs 2,200 euros or Rs. 1.6 lakh for around half a kg.
Thakore formed a front from the OBC community, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and called it the OSS Ekta Manch. Thereafter he joined hands with the Congress.
Twitter erupted with "imported mushroom" jokes, mostly "before and after" memes.
Pic 1: Obama Before eating imported mushroom
— PhD in Bakchodi (@Atheist_Krishna) December 12, 2017
Pic 2: Obama After eating imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/TUsIzCVyax
Rajnikant before And after eating imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/VvUHSz5LJg
— Bhrustrated® 🍄मशरूम उत्पादक (@AnupamUncl) December 12, 2017
Pic 1: Kejriwal Before eating imported mushroom
— Moti Sutar (@sauron519) December 12, 2017
Pic 2: Kejriwal After eating imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/EqWszPRpUb
Before and After having Imported Mushroom #ImportedMushroom #MushroomEffect pic.twitter.com/IK8k8yJkYH
— yatin sangoi (@Y4T1N) December 12, 2017
Pic 1: Before eating imported mushroom
— Om (@ohokohokok) December 12, 2017
Pic 2: After eating imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/DzA7F6h3sF
Pic 1: Modi Before eating imported mushroom
— PhD in Bakchodi (@Atheist_Krishna) December 12, 2017
Pic 2: Modi After eating imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/QNxrGXm57h
#NewsAlert - PM Modi eats imported mushrooms. One mushroom costs Rs 80 thousand and he eats 5 mushrooms a day: Alpesh Thakor, Social/Political activist. pic.twitter.com/XqD6FxuDQa
— Hardik Bhatt 🧘♂️ (@iHardikB) December 12, 2017
Before and after eating imported mushrooms! pic.twitter.com/yWqDXh8vgH
— Sunny-HMP (@SUNNYcasm) December 12, 2017
Now social activists will campaign like:
— Shivani Nani (@vanisaxenaa) December 12, 2017
Dark is beautiful. Say No to #ImportedMushroom . pic.twitter.com/8RUg0WbhEE
Modi Ji taking delivery of Imported mushroom illegally. pic.twitter.com/ola1TZfTMZ
— Dropout Guy (@DropoutGuy9) December 12, 2017
Pic 1 ~ modi before eating
— Justin_बीरबल🇮 🇳 (@aloona_akash) December 12, 2017
imported mushroom
Pic 2 ~ modi after eating
imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/9ystqeXjYu
Pic1.Modi before eating imported mushroom
— Bhrustrated® 🍄मशरूम उत्पादक (@AnupamUncl) December 12, 2017
Pic2.Modi after eating imported mushroom pic.twitter.com/t7wqvvqXHl
Rana Ayyub before and after eating imported mushrooms pic.twitter.com/pF0clgQL8O
— Fidus Achates (@Sohni_Bose) December 12, 2017