Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday slammed Congress lawmaker Pawan Khera over what he called an “indecent” comment on his swimming, warning that he will report Khera’s “indiscipline conduct” to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The sharp exchange comes days after Rijiju posted a video of himself swimming in a river in Arunachal Pradesh and challenged senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to do the same.
The swim challenge builds on a longer fitness exchange between Rijiju and Gandhi. Gandhi referred to that conversation again in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session in February, using jiu-jitsu moves as a political analogy. Rijiju’s invocation of Himanta Biswa Sarma is not incidental. Khera and the Assam chief minister have a running history that predates this swim spat by years. More recently, ahead of the Assam assembly elections, Khera alleged at press conferences that Sarma’s wife held multiple undisclosed passports and foreign companies, allegations the couple rejected. That episode led to a police complaint by Sarma’s wife and a search of Khera’s Delhi residence by Assam Police in April. He then drew a contrast in political experience, noting that Khera is serving his first term as a nominated Rajya Sabha member while he has contested eight Lok Sabha elections.
In December 2025, Rijiju shared a video of a Parliament conversation with Gandhi and said the discussion was only about fitness, with Gandhi asking about his exercise routine and inviting him to train together. Khera was arrested by Assam Police in February 2023 over remarks he made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sarma said at the time that Khera had tendered an unconditional apology but added that “the majesty of law shall always prevail,” and that police would take the matter to its “logical conclusion. Sarma later said the claims had hurt Assamese sentiment and warned Khera to “wait and watch this film,” adding that he “seldom” goes back on his word. In his response to the swimming remark, Rijiju first took issue with the phrase Khera had used, asking him directly whether he swims “with full suit and coat” himself. On that basis, he said Khera had no right to make what he called an “indecent comment.”
Rijiju responded by questioning Khera’s standing to make the remark, pointing to his own record of contesting eigth Lok Sabha elections against Khera’s single nominated term in the Rajya Sabha. Rijiju went on to explain why he had reacted at all. He closed by asking Khera to stop resorting to abusive language.
He said his swim was meant to inspire people around him and had nothing to do with Gandhi. He said he swims with villagers in Arunachal Pradesh purely to inspire the people around him, and that Gandhi does not figure in his thinking while he is doing so. He added that he only responded after Congress supporters began drawing comparisons between his swimming and Gandhi’s, calling himself a natural “khiladi” in the region’s rivers who has never needed training for such activities.
