Mir Jafar. The name is tied to “the betrayal he perpetrated on the young Siraj in Plassey in 1757,” as The Telegraph puts it. The paper calls it the the “most commonly used Indianism for traitor or turncoat.” In March 2021, before the West Bengal election, Mamata Banerjee said of defectors from her party: “Gaddars, Mir Jafars (traitors) have now become BJP candidates.”
Jaichand. The 12th-century Rajput king remembered in popular history as the man who betrayed Prithviraj Chauhan. In June 2024 the Haryana minister Ranjit Singh used the name against rivals in his own party: “These Jaichands will be taught a tough lesson.” Rajput community groups dispute the charge against Jaichand, Outlook reports, and say the popular accusation goes back to the Ain-i-Akbari.