NEW DELHI, Oct 18: The BJP and the Congress were engaged in a war of words on Sunday over MP Shashi Tharoor’s remarks at a Lahore event, as the ruling party accused him of “demeaning and discrediting” India and wondered if Rahul Gandhi wanted to contest elections in Pakistan.
Hitting back, the opposition party said the BJP has always responded to substance and facts with “jumlebaazi” (rhetoric).
The BJP attacked Tharoor after he posted a link to the comments made online at Lahore Think Fest, which his office said was held last month, in which he criticised the Modi government’s handling of the coronavirus and also spoke of alleged “bigotry and prejudice” against Muslims during the pandemic.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters that it was “unbelievable” that a senior Congress leader and an MP like Tharoor can make such comments against India at a Pakistani forum.
“He has demeaned India and projected the country in dim light,” Patra said.
Referring to Tharoor’s remarks that Rahul Gandhi had warned about the severity of the COVID-19 as early as in February and that he should be getting credit for it, Patra claimed that the Kerala MP was a close friend of the former Congress president and wondered if Gandhi wanted to get credit in Pakistan and contest polls there.
He is already a “hero” in China and Pakistan, Patra alleged. (PTI)
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