Biswa Sarma took to Twitter to slam Rahul Gandhi and Congress.
On Tuesday, Assam BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma took aim at Congress and Rahul Gandhi over the national anthem row. Claiming that Congress leaders would stand to greet Rahul Gandhi’s dog Pidi, he said Congress were mocking the idea of respecting the national anthem.
He asked Rahul Gandhi to take a break from Pidi and tell the world why his leaders are out to insult the national anthem.
He wrote on Twitter: “Intrigued to see brazen manner in which leaders of @INCIndia are mocking at idea of respect to #nationalanthem. #CongressInsultsAnthem. While they'd stand even to greet #Pidi while at 12 Tughlak Lane, leaders like @_SandeepDikshit have reservations getting up for anthem.”
He added: “Does @OfficeOfRG have guts to tell us his stand on #JanaGanaMana.We're extremely puzzled to see @INCIndia discomfort over 52 seconds stand. Urge @OfficeOfRG to take some time off Pidi & tell the world why his leaders are out to insult our #nationalanthem. #CongressInsultsAnthem. If party line is to contrary, we expect @OfficeOfRG to 'train' his leaders to be obedient & follow his instructions. #CongresInsultsAnthem.”
Biswa Sarma had hit out at Rahul Gandhi after the latter posted videos of his dog on Twitter.
"People (have) been asking who tweets for this guy... I'm coming clean..it's me..Pidi..I'm way smarter than him. Look what I can do with a tweet..oops..treat!," Gandhi said on twitter, posting a video of his dog doing a trick at his master's command.
The video shows a hand placing something edible between the dog's eyes and nose as the Congress vice president is heard issuing some commands. In a swift, deft move, the canine jumps and catches it in his mouth.
The twitter post drew varied response from his political rivals and followers.
Among initial twitter reactions to the Congress leader s tweet was one by former Assam Congress strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had quit the party and joined the BJP on the eve of the last state elections, accusing Rahul Gandhi of "indifference" to party affairs.
"Sir @OfficeOfRG, who knows him better than me. Still remember you busy feeding biscuits to him while we wanted to discuss urgent Assam's issues," Sarma said, provoking Congress leaders to lash out at him.
"We also know you better now," was the reaction of Mahila Congress president and Lok Sabha MP from Silchar Sushmita Dev, who tagged Sarma.
Congress social media in charge Divya Spandana, responding to Gandhi s tweet said, "So know you who can match this talent."
Gandhi's tweet came at a time when his social media popularity is a subject of intense discussion.
The BJP has accused Gandhi of using bots to inflate his fan following on the microblogging website, but the Congress defended his Twitter resurgence as natural. The bot is a software that can be used to autonomously perform actions such as tweeting, retweeting, liking, following, unfollowing, or direct messaging other accounts.
Earlier, veteran Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Tuesday criticised the Jaipur Mayor and Bharatiya Janata Party for imposing the ‘diktat’ of singing National Anthem on the staff of Jaipur Municipal Corporation.
"The issue has never been, and I believe never should be about singing the National Anthem. Every citizen of this country respects it and the Jaipur Mayor or his political party(BJP) have no monopoly," Khurshid said.
The Jaipur Municipal Corporation in Rajasthan recently issued a directive to its staffers to sing the national anthem every morning and national song every evening. The biometric system of attendance will not accept any entries after the morning anthem.
Further, the Jaipur mayor said that those who don't want to sing the national anthem can go to Pakistan.
The former Union Minister said there may be many complaints about how BJP have dealt with issues of national importance in the past.
"What is happening with the national anthem is that there was an amusing decision about it taken where people were required by the Supreme Court to stand up for the national anthem in cinema theatres. Now SC itself revised its view and it feels that you don't need to show everywhere that you respect the anthem and therefore, they asked the government to consider it," he asserted.
Khurshid said that imposing such diktats is an insult to the National Anthem itself.
"Nobody ever said that there is an issue about singing the anthem and nobody asked others to stop singing it. I think for somebody to raise something of this nature, frankly, I believe is not only idiotic but also an insult to the National Anthem itself. They are speaking an untruth about the respect the people have for the national anthem of this country," Khurshid said.
With inputs from agencies
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