BJP slams Congress over Shashi Tharoor remarks on pandemic management

Shashi Tharoor. (File Photo)

Hitting out at Congress leaders for their criticism of the government’s handling of the pandemic in comparison to neighbouring countries, the ruling BJP on Sunday alleged that the Opposition party’s leaders were demeaning the country on international platforms.

Targeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra called him “Rahul Lahori”and asked him if he wanted to contest elections in Pakistan.

Patra also criticised Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for his remarks on the handling of the pandemic, accusations of targeting of Muslims in the wake of the Tablighi Jamaat gathering and the treatment meted out to people of the Northeast in a virtual address to Lahore Think Fest.

Addressing reporters, Patra said, “We in BJP will start calling him Rahul Lahori and henceforth I too will address Rahul Gandhi as Rahul Lahori. A debut rally for him has already been done in Pakistan by Tharoor. Are you going to contest election in Pakistan?”

He also alleged that the Indian National Congress would soon become Pakistan National Congress. “They give a ticket to Jinnah’s supporter. I want to ask, why is it necessary? Why would you cry about India in Lahore? We have no doubt that Rahul Gandhi hates India,” said Patra.

Patra’s remarks came two days after Union minister and BJP MP from Begusarai Giriraj Singh accused the Congress of fielding a “sympathiser of Mohammad Ali Jinnah” in the Bihar polls — Congress’s Jale candidate Maskoor Usmani was the AMU students’ union president when the campus was caught in a controversy over a portrait of Jinnah at the students’ union office where it has been hanging for decades.

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