The Bharatiya Janata Party has come down heavily on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over a tweet by its leader Kiriti Azad apparently making fun of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his attire during his recent visit to Meghalaya. The Prime Minister was in Shillong on Sunday to head the North East Council (NEC) meeting.
“Neither male nor female, only a priest of fashion,” Azad, a former BJP leader, captioned an image he posted on Twitter that showed PM Modi dressed in the traditional Khasi outfit.
The remarks have drawn fire from several BJP leaders, including the chief ministers of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Taking to Twitter first, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed Azad for disrespecting Meghalayan culture.
“It is saddening to see how Kirti Azad is disrespecting the culture of Meghalaya and mocking our tribal attire. TMC must urgently clarify if they endorse his views. Their silence will amount to tacit support and thus will not be forgiven by the people,” he said.
“Your making mockery of rich tribal traditions of Meghalaya, and our rich tribal heritage, is contemptuous and abominable. Your language is pitiable, and an affront on the dignity of womanhood. I condemn it,” Arunachal CM Pema Khandu said.
Responding to Khandu’s tweet, Azad clarified that he never intended to disrespect the and was instead trying to convey that PM Modi never misses an opportunity to make a fashion statement.
Azad also came in for criticism over his remark from Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh who condemned what he termed was Azad’s “unwarranted mockery of the culture of Meghalaya”.
“Kirti Azad’s unwarranted mockery of the culture of Meghalaya is condemned in the strongest terms. This has been not only unfortunate but highly unbecoming of a political leader to make such outrageous and ill-informed remarks against a tribal attire of the Northeast,” Singh said.
The BJP, meanwhile, has sought to push the Trinamool on the backfoot in Meghalaya where polls are due next year. Ironically, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was in Meghalaya for three days last week to kickstart the party’s ‘Mission Meghalaya’.
“In hatred for one man, TMC stoops to the lowest level of disrespecting and insulting traditional attire and culture of tribal community, Meghalaya and the entire Northeast by using a photoshopped and fake image. Mamata Didi must clarify if this is her official position and act on Kirti Azad,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said.
