On Tuesday, 21 November, the youth wing of the Congress tweeted a meme on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that was considered by many as being classist. It was deleted soon after.
Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Brar apologised for the meme, but said that the Twitter handle was not run by the Indian Youth Congress but by volunteers of the same.
Suraj Hegde, the person in-charge of the Youth Congress’ online magazine Yuva Desh, apologised for the meme too, claiming that it was run by volunteers.
We condemn this and are apologetic. We are trying to find out who made that tweet as mainly volunteers run that page.Suraj Hegde, Yuva Desh in-charge
Taking a dig at Modi’s ‘chaiwala’ moniker-of-sorts, the meme shows the PM talking to Donald Trump and Theresa May, with 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 the Congress which is 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 the Congress.Sudhanshu Trivedi to ANI
With election season just around the corner, will the Congress’ ‘chaiwala’ jibe be its own undoing, like it was in 2014?
Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)