The photo, first tweeted by BJP leader Harish Khurana, showed Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee leaders Ajay Maken, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Haroon Yusuf at the restaurant. (Source: Twitter HarishKhuranna)
Chhole bhature from Chandni Chowk’s Chaina Ram was at the centre of political discourse Monday, after a photo emerged of Congress leaders having breakfast hours before their day-long fast. The BJP accused the Congress of being “non-serious” on the issue of caste-based violence, and of trying to “befool” people.
The photo, first tweeted by BJP leader Harish Khurana, showed Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee leaders Ajay Maken, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Haroon Yusuf at the restaurant. “Wow our Congress leaders, they invited people to join the hunger strike, but they themselves are relishing chhole bhature at a restaurant… clearly befooling,” Khurana tweeted.
Maken hit back, saying that the BJP was targeting the Congress on such issues because it does not want to debate issues such as Dalits being targeted or irregularities in the banking sector. “We were having breakfast around 8 am when the picture was clicked. We had not slept the whole night as preparations were on for the fast. We had to go to the venue multiple times to check that things are in place,” Maken claimed.
Lovely said, “This is a symbolic fast, not an indefinite fast. It was from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm and the picture was taken before 8 am. Instead of looking at the country’s progress, they (the BJP) are looking at what Congress leaders are eating.”