Congress, BJP spar over PM's 'I did Satyagraha' remark in Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: The Congress and the BJP on Friday sparred over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that he did satyagraha for Bangladesh's freedom, with the opposition party questioning the statement's veracity and the ruling party asserting that it was true.

Addressing the main golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's Independence and the birth centenary of its founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka in the presence of his counterpart Sheikh Hasina and President Abdul Hamid, Modi recalled the 1971 war and said the pictures of atrocities that the Pakistan Army inflicted on the people in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) used to disturb people in India.

"I must have been 20-22 years old when I and my colleagues did satyagraha for Bangladesh's freedom," he said.

Tagging the prime minister's remarks, Tharoor said, "International education: our PM is giving Bangladesh a taste of Indian 'fake news'. The absurdity is that everyone knows who liberated Bangladesh."

Another Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shared a cartoon taking a dig at Modi and tweeted, "Entire Political Science by Narendra Modi."

BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, "Was Prime Minister Modi part of satyagrah organised by Jana Sangha for recognition of Bangladesh? Yes, he was."

"A citation awarded by Bangladesh to Vajpayee ji speaks of the rally. PM Modi, in a book authored in 1978, also wrote about going to Tihar during Bangladesh satyagrah!" he said and shared a snapshot of the citation to Vajpayee.