Gurugram: Days after Himachal Pradesh Police filed a closure report in a case of gang rape against him and Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli, Haryanvi singer and former publicity adviser to the previous Manohar Lal Khattar government Rocky Mittal has once again made a U-turn and started campaigning for the BJP.
Ahead of assembly elections in Haryana last year, Rocky Mittal, whose real name is Jai Bhagwan Mittal, joined the Congress and was singing paeans to senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, including ‘Mujhe Maaf Karna, Rahul Mere Bhai (Please forgive me, Rahul, my brother)’.
But, now, just months later, as campaigning is on for municipal elections, Rocky Mittal has switched sides again and was seen campaigning in Tohana for BJP’s chairman candidate Surender Mittal.
This time, his criticism was directed at Rahul Gandhi. Rocky said, “Rahul Gandhi talks about opening a shop of love, but he doesn’t even have a small stall of affection.”
Mittal told ThePrint Tuesday that though he apologised to Rahul Gandhi through songs, the Congress leader doesn’t seem to have forgiven him as none of the Congress leaders in Haryana came to his rescue when a “false case of gang rape” was registered against him in Kasauli.
Instead, he said, certain Haryana Congress leaders were baying for his blood, demanding his and Mohan Lal Badoli’s arrest in the case.
On 13 December 2024, the Himachal Pradesh Police booked Badoli and Mittal for allegedly raping a woman in Kasauli in 2023. A First Information Report (FIR) of gang rape and criminal intimidation was registered at the Kasauli police station on the complaint of a woman. While the BJP is in power in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh is a Congress-ruled state.
However, in the first week of February, the Panchkula Police booked the complainant, one of her friends, and her employer—who, according to the FIR in gang rape case, had accompanied the woman to Kasauli on the day of the alleged incident—for extortion. Police arrested the employer and the friend on the same day.
Around the same time, the Kasauli Police filed a closure report before a court in Himachal Pradesh. The Himachal court is yet to take a decision on it and the next date for the case is fixed for 8 March.
When ThePrint asked Mittal whether the BJP leaders helped him when the case of gang rape was registered against him at Kasauli, Mittal did a counter question, “Who registered the case of extortion against the complainant woman on my complaint? Wasn’t it the Panchkula Police? So, can I say that the BJP didn’t help me?”
Mittal said he even called up Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to express his gratitude for his help at this difficult time.
Rocky Mittal, however, clarified that he had neither joined the Congress officially nor has he joined the BJP officially now.
Also Read: ‘Maaf karna, Rahul mere bhai’: Haryana singer who bashed Congress MP & wrote paeans to Modi changes tune
Campaign during municipal polls
During the campaigning for municipal elections in Jakhal, Fatehabad district, Mittal urged the public to form a ‘triple-engine’ government (a BJP government at the Centre, state and municipal levels), comparing it to the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism—Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh.
Mittal first gained recognition in 2014, when Narendra Modi was running as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. His most famous song was ‘PM Banega Narendra Modi’ (Narendra Modi will become the PM).
Mittal, who, at that time, styled himself as ‘Modi Bhakt singer Rocky Mittal’, was appointed publicity adviser by Haryana’s then chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2016. However, his tenure was short-lived, as he was removed from the position in January 2017, less than a year later, after he accused a senior IAS officer of misusing crores of rupees for an event in Gurugram.
Despite this setback, Mittal managed to return to the Haryana CM’s office in December 2017, this time as project director of a newly formed cell. Yet, his reinstatement did not last long—by December 2020, he was sacked once again.
In August 2024, Mittal told ThePrint that the real turning point in his fallout with the Khattar administration was his March 2021 arrest in connection with a 6-year-old case, which led to his imprisonment. This, he claims, ultimately drove a wedge between him and the BJP leadership.
On August 26, 2024, he shared the stage with Congress Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala. During a Congress public meeting, Mittal sang an apology song for Rahul Gandhi.
“Thokar Maine Khayi, Rahul Mere Bhai. Mujhe Maaf Karna, Rahul Mere Bhai. Nafrat Phailayi Sabne, Tune Mitayi. Mujhe Maaf Karna, Rahul Mere Bhai.” (I have stumbled, Rahul my brother. Forgive me, Rahul my brother. Everyone spread hatred, but you erased it. Forgive me, Rahul my brother.)
He composed several songs for Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the party’s election campaign.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also Read: Extortion FIR against woman who accused Haryana BJP chief Badoli & singer Rocky Mittal of gang rape
