A former Pakistan minister’s appreciation of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi right in the middle of the Lok Sabha elections has left the grand old party on a sticky wicket.
On Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party launched a no-holds-barred attack against the Congress after Chaudhary Fawad Hussain, a former minister in the Imran Khan cabinet in Pakistan, shared a video featuring Rahul on his social media handle. “Rahul on fire…,” he captioned his post on X.
Hitting out at the Congress over the praise from across the border, the BJP said the Congress’ “dalliance” with Pakistan couldn’t get more obvious. “Ch Fawad Hussain, who served in the Imran Khan cabinet, as Minister for Information and Broadcasting, is promoting Rahul Gandhi. Is the Congress planning to contest election in Pakistan?” BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya said tagging the social media post.
“From a manifesto, that has imprints of the Muslim League to a ringing endorsement, from across the border, Congress’s dalliance with Pakistan can’t get more obvious,” he added while also sharing a screenshot of the said post by Chaudhary.
The video shared by the former Pakistan minister featured a speech by Rahul critical of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of using the media and other avenues to distract the people’s attention from pressing issues like unemployment and farmers’ woes.
In the edited video shared by Hussain, Rahul could also be heard referring to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir and overlooking the interests of the poor and the youth.
As Hussain’s post sparked reactions and questions in India, the Pakistan politician defended it and said he stood against “extremists” and “hate mongers” as much in Pakistan as in India or anywhere else in the world.
“I oppose extremists and hate mongers be it in Pak or India or elsewhere and Modi and BJP are the people who should be opposed by everyone with conscience, btw I get same reaction from Muslim fundos,” he said in response to a post by an Indian user.