New Delhi, Nov 4: A political controversy erupted on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, over a short video purportedly showing Congress MP Shyamkumar Barve slapping fellow party MP Pratibha Dhanorkar while the two were travelling by bus to attend the INDIA bloc's rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, IANS reported. The video is said to be from November 1, during the Congress MPs' bus journey to and from the opposition rally held to, in the organisers' words, save democracy and the Constitution. Both MPs represent constituencies in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region — Barve is the Ramtek MP and Dhanorkar the Chandrapur MP.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale termed the alleged act unacceptable and said the Congress should respect women. 'Congress leader slapping a woman is absolutely wrong. The Congress party should respect women, but its actions do not reflect that sentiment. Slapping a woman is unacceptable, and the person who did so should apologise. Raising a hand against women is never acceptable,' Athawale told IANS. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam also criticised the video, describing it as objectionable: 'This video is highly objectionable. Congress leaders should be ashamed after watching it. The video is from November 1, during the journey of Congress MPs by bus to and from the rally organised by the Congress and other opposition parties at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan to save democracy and the Constitution. It shows a Congress MP assaulting another woman MP, whom I believe to be Pratibha Dhanorkar,' Nirupam told IANS.

Source: IANS via Asian News Hub

What is solid

  • A short bus video from November 1 involving Congress MPs Shyamkumar Barve and Pratibha Dhanorkar circulated and drew public condemnation from Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam on November 4 (IANS).
  • Dhanorkar publicly dismissed the controversy, describing the exchange as a casual interaction in a lighter vein with no ill intent (IANS).

What is only claimed

  • Whether the gesture in the purported video was an assault or a playful, casual exchange between colleagues — critics called it a slap and an assault, while Dhanorkar said it was not a slap and Barve was reported as calling it a playful gesture.

Dhanorkar herself dismissed the controversy surrounding the video, IANS reported. She described the exchange between the two MPs as a casual interaction in a lighter vein and said there was no ill intent involved; in a statement shared on social media she said an ordinary interaction with a fellow MP was being portrayed misleadingly. Barve was reported as saying the gesture was playful — made while asking her to shout slogans louder — that Dhanorkar is like a younger sister to him, and that the video was being used to create a misleading narrative. Some Congress functionaries were reported to have complained to the party's top leadership seeking disciplinary action, but as of November 4 there was no confirmation of any disciplinary action or official Congress response.

Source: NationPress / IANS

What happens next: the Congress leadership has not, in the reports available on November 4, announced any action on the reported internal complaints, and the row rests on sharply different readings of the same short clip — condemnation from Athawale and Nirupam on one side, and denials of any assault from both MPs in the video on the other. Awaaz Punjab is reporting the incident as an allegation, not an established assault. Sources: IANS reports published November 4, 2026 (via HiIndia, Asian News Hub and NationPress), and Inshorts' summary attributing the clip report to PTI.

Source: Inshorts (PTI)