No matter how much one tries, politics gets personal. On Tuesday, the youth wing of the Congress tweeted what was ridiculed as a classist meme about the Prime Minister, which they deleted after realising it was in poor taste.
Amrinder Singh Raja Brar, Youth Congress Chief, apologised for the meme but added that the handle was not run by Indian Youth Congress but by volunteers of the same.
Suraj Hegde, the person in-charge of the Yuva Desh page, apologised for the meme, claiming that it’s run by volunteers, by way of explaining how the tone-deaf meme came to be shared.
We condemn this and are apologetic. We are trying to find out who did that tweet as mainly volunteers run that page.Suraj Hegde, Yuva Desh In-charge
Taking a dig at PM Modi’s ‘chaiwala’ moniker-of-sorts, the meme shows him talking to Donald Trump and Theresa May, and in conversation, May saying “Tu chai bech (You go sell tea)”. While both parties have amped up their social media game in recent times, using an elitist meme reflects poorly on a Congress already derided for being ‘dynastic’.
BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that the damage has been done by the party, so them deleting the meme means nothing.
Now Yuva Desh deleting the tweet means nothing, the damage is done, be it intentional or unintentional. This also clearly shows the feudal mindset of Congress.Sudhanshu Trivedi to ANI
Paresh Rawal Hits Back With ‘Bar-Wala’, Deletes Tweet
Veteran actor and BJP MP Paresh Rawal, responded to IYC tweet by saying that the “chai-wala” was better than their “bar-wala”.
Rawal later deleted the tweet, and apologised for “hurting feelings”.
“Does Rahul Support This?”: Rupani
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani hit back at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and asked if he approved the tweet. Rupani’s rebuttal comes after Rahul commented that the Congress would “respect the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister”.
What A Misfire, Says Twitter
Twitter, obviously, had a lot to say, with the youth Congress wing coming under fire from the right as well as the left.
Back in 2014, the Congress had used Modi’s childhood profession of serving tea on railway stations as a jibe, only for it to backfire against them. The BJP used the same remark to term the then-ruling party as classist and elitist, to convincing effect.
BJP’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra also brought up the 2014 misjudgement and how that did not work well for the Congress.
The nation saw the impact of ‘Maut Ka Saudagar’ jibe and Mani Shankar Aiyar’s abuses in 2014. Similar impact will be seen now. The Congress has not only insulted PM but also six crore Gujaratis and 1.25 billion Indians.Sambit Patra, BJP National Spokesperson
With election season just around the corner, will Congress’ ‘chaiwala’ jibe be its own undoing, like it was in 2014?
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