The online magazine of the Indian Youth Congress on Tuesday, tweeted, and later deleted, a meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after it drew criticism from Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
The meme showed Modi in conversation with United States President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May. It was the reference to his past as a tea seller that attracted anger from the BJP.
Amarinder Singh Raja, national president of the Indian Youth Congress, apologised for the tweet. He clarified that volunteers managed the Yuva Desh Twitter handle and that the party’s youth wing does not “approve of such humour”.
“Despite political differences with the BJP and having suffered everyday abuse from their leaders, we respect the prime minister and all political opponents,” he said on Twitter.
BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress has not only insulted Modi, but the “six crore Gujaratis and 1.25 billion Indians”. Party leader and another spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said whether intentional or not, the damage was done and the tweet by Yuva Desh “clearly shows the feudal mindset of the Congress”.
“Just because Modiji comes from a poor family and he used to sell tea, you will insult him?” said Tajinder Bagga, a spokesperson for the BJP’s Delhi unit. “This is an insult to all hard-working, poor people.”
Youth Congress leader Suraj Hegde said they condemned the Yuva Desh tweet and are trying to find out who posted it “as mainly volunteers run that page”.
The incident is reminiscent of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer’s remarks from 2014, when he said Modi could distribute tea but never become the prime minister. Many believe that his statement helped secure Modi’s win in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
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