New Delhi: A man who identified himself as a member of the right-wing group Karni Sena issued a video threat to shoot Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and kill 25 Members of Parliament from his party. In the video, the man, who identifies himself as ‘Raj Amera’, warns Gandhi that if an alleged incident involving Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was repeated, “We will enter your home and shoot you.” He demanded action against the 25 MPs “within 24 hours”, or they would be killed, the Telegraph reports.After the video went viral, police in Rajasthan’s Kota detained the man. Kota Superintendent of Police Tejaswani Gautam said he was questioned at Borkheda Police Station. She said that four criminal cases were already registered against him.The man, while apparently being arrested, told mediapersons he was not the one in the video, which he claimed he had not watched, and blamed the political opposition of manufacturing the video, Bhaskar reports. “I am connected to the world. I want to make the country a Hindu nation,” he said.The Karni Sena has denied association with the man. National president Mahipal Singh Makrana said the organisation protests through demonstrations and black flags but does not endorse violence. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in power in Rajasthan, distanced itself from the man. The party’s Kota city president Rakesh Jain said Amera had no connection with the party.However, as per the Bhaskar report, Karni Sena divisional president Mahipal Singh reportedly said, “We are not aware of the matter. I have not seen the video yet. Raj Amera was made a divisional spokesperson three or four days ago.”Reacting to the threat, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera called it part of a “calculated and devious plan” and dubbed it the work of a “Godse factory” – invoking Nathuram Godse – and referred to the threatening video.पूरा RSS-भाजपा तंत्र एक “गोडसे फैक्ट्री” है।तथाकथित करणी सेना द्वारा राहुल गांधी और “25 सांसदों” के खिलाफ दी गई धमकी कोई अलग-थलग पड़ी घटना नहीं है। यह एक सुनियोजित और कपटपूर्ण साज़िश का हिस्सा है।▪️पहले, @KirenRijiju ने सार्वजनिक रूप से झूठ बोला और देश को गुमराह किया कि… pic.twitter.com/jB8HjM9MdP— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) February 19, 2026“Godse was created then too. Today, another Godse is being prepared,” Khera’s X post said. “The entire BJP-RSS system is a ‘Godse factory’,” he said.Khera’s post refers to what he calls a “fabricated lie” – the claim that Congress MPs abused or insulted Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in parliament, and that this alleged misbehaviour was done on Rahul Gandhi’s instructions. He argues that this narrative was first pushed publicly by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and amplified by his party’s MPs, who portrayed the Congress leader as a threat to India’s security. He said the narrative was picked up by a man claiming to belong to the Karni Sena, who justified death threats.Mahipal Singh Makrana, national president of Shri Rajput Karni Sena (the organisation’s full name features an honorific and the name of the caste identity it claims to represent), said the man who issued the video statement was not linked to the organisation. “We talk about protesting, showing black flags, taking to the streets, but never about killing someone. We do not endorse such a path. That is not our ideology,” he said, according to the Telegraph.Last week in Aligarh, men claiming to be Karni Sena supporters protested during Maha Shivratri against a Muslim trader, Armaan, who had set up a women’s clothing stall within the Khereshwar Dham temple complex as part of festival arrangements, Navbharat Times reports. Police detained the protesters under preventive sections for breach of peace, and ordered Armaan to shut his stall.Last March, Karni Sena men were accused of attacking a convoy of Samajwadi Party leader in Uttar Pradesh, Ramji Lal Suman, for referring to how he believes military forces had aligned on either side during the first battle of Panipat in 1526.Karni Sena, named after folk deity Karni Mata revered in Rajasthan, has regularly been in the news over its aggressive tactics, violent behaviour and even odd, insulting and offensive conduct of individuals linked to the group.Its national upsurge lay in the film Padmavat (2018; dir: Sanjay Leela Bhansali) in which it mobilised Rajputs by claiming history had been distorted and showed the community in poor light. Its members glorified jauhar, NDTV reported at the time. During those protests, which spanned late 2017 and early 2018, there were incidents of violence, apart from strike calls and outrageous statements by its members and demonstrations in numerous states.Then, Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi had denied any role in the violence – but insisted the outfit’s protests would continue despite them.