Congress Leader Pankaj Punia Under Fire for Insulting 'Hindu Faith' with Now Deleted Tweet

Congress leader Pankaj Punia landed in the centre of controversy after he made an insensitive remark against Hindus in a tweet on Tuesday.

In an attack on the Yogi Aditya Nath government following the latter's criticism of Congress for offering to ferry migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh on 1000 special buses, Punia took to Twitter and slammed the government politicizing the issue.

"All Congress wanted to do was help pay for migrant workers to reach home. But the government wanted to politicise the issue. Such lowly acts are only done by 'sanghis'", Punia tweeted in Hindi, referring to supporters of the BJP government as well as right-wingers.

The leader, however, went on to make further comments that have invited the ire of Hindus from across UP as well as the rest of the country.

"These are people who dig up graves and rape the dead, these are people who scream Jai Shree Ram while masturbating in front of girls in presence of their fathers," he wrote.

The tweet has since been deleted after intense outrage on social media. The comments by Punia came after a war of words between CM Yogi Adityanath and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vandra over sending migrants in the state back home in INC sponsored buses.

On Wednesday, a UP-based Supreme Court lawyer has filed a criminal complaint against Punia for the comment. The incendiary tweet is being slammed as being insulting to "Hindu faith". As per a report in Times Now, there are now two complaints against Punia in relation to the tweet in UP.

Social media has also been flooded from calls for Punia's immediate arrest.

UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s secretary were booked by police Tuesday, PTI reported, after the state government said a list of 1,000 buses on which the party planned to ferry migrant workers contained registration numbers of autorickshaws, cars and trucks.