Rahul Gandhi and BJP Spar Over Hafiz Saeed’s Release

“Hugplomacy fail. More hugs urgently needed,” is what Rahul Gandhi tweeted to Narendra Modi after Hafiz’s release.

On Friday, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, accused of masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai massacre in 2008, was freed after 10 months of house-arrest in Pakistan. Rahul Gandhi tweeted to PM Modi.

(Photo: Reuters; PTI)

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and termed the latter's relationship with US President Donald Trump failed "hugplomacy". On Saturday morning, this is what he tweeted:

On Friday, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, accused of masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai massacre in 2008, was freed after 10 months of house arrest in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, the US Congress also passed a bill which dropped action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as a condition for Pakistan to receive hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, were quick to hit back, saying that the Congress Vice President should stand with the country and not with the mastermind of the Mumbai massacre. Clearly, tweets were the preferred medium of communication as BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said:

Accusing the Congress of showing sympathy with Pakistan, the BJP leader also declared that "Congress Ka Haath, Aatankivadiyon ke Saath" would be a more appropriate slogan for the grand old party. And in yet another tweet, Rao claimed that it was “on family’s orders” that P Chidamabaram had given “a clean chit to LeT operative Ishrat Jahan”.

Rao also made a statement where he accused the Congress of having repeatedly betraying the country by pandering to anti-India sentiments:

While Manmohan Singh’s government treated Pakistan as a victim state and let it off lightly, Narendra Modi has succeeded in isolating and cornering Pakistan as terroristan, not just in the region but globally and in all international fora like the UN, G20, BRICS, ASEAN etc. The manner in which they questioned the surgical strikes against the terror launch pads across the LoC and the utterly disgraceful attacks against the army chief as a ‘Street thug (Sadak Ka Goonda)‘ and Rahul Gandhi’s joining the groups shouting “Bharat ki barbaadi” slogans are symptomatic of Congress party’s support for anti-India sentiments.

Rao also sought to provide “examples” of said anti-India sympathies:

The statements of Congress leaders eulogising and praising Burhan Wani and their solidarity for separatists clearly show their sympathies for pro-Pakistan elements. It is a tragedy that a party which ruled India for six decades has compromised with the terrorist groups that have bled India for the sake of appeasing a minority vote bank. They have abused Hindu religion with terms like Hindu Terror and Saffron terror for appeasing minorities. In no other country, terror is politicised as the Congress sought to do in power.

(With inputs from IANS)