The Congress on Sunday accused the BJP of resorting to jumlebaazi (empty rhetoric) after BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra charged paty’s Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor with “discrediting and demeaning” India at the Lahore Think Fest event and asked if Congress leaders now plan to contest elections in Pakistan.
At a virtual press conference, Congress MP and spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi hit back by accusing the BJP of “ridiculing the debate and diminish India as a democracy”.
“The BJP has always responded to substance and pointed facts with jumlebaazi . The BJP has always believed in rhetoric, not substance. Yes, it does sometimes catch you by the eyeballs or the earbuds when you hear it, but, within seconds, logic takes over and tells you how empty a rhetoric the BJP is indulging in,” Mr. Singhvi told reporters.
The BJP spokesperson attacked the Congress after Mr. Tharoor had shared the link to the event, one that reportedly took place last month, on his official twitter handle on Saturday.
In the online interaction, Mr. Tharoor spoke about the Narendra Modi government’s ‘failure’ in effectively handling the COVID-19 situation and the prejudice against a community during the pandemic.
“It is unbelievable that an MP spoke like this...After all, what does the Congress party want. Do they want to contest elections from Pakistan?” asked Mr. Patra and added that Mr. Tharoor also questioned the democratic credentials of the country.
“What was the need to discuss such matters at a Pakistani forum? There is no country in this world as democratic and just as India,” he said.
The BJP spokesperson also claimed that former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is already hailed as a ‘hero’ in China and Pakistan because of his statements against the Modi government.
Hitting back, Mr. Singhvi said, “If somebody is praising a particular achievement or pointing to a particular area of activity in which you are laggard in India, to call that person to stand for elections from Pakistan is to ridicule the debate and diminish us as a democracy.
“These responses might have short-lived, few seconds of utility but they actually show the hollowness of your intellectual ability to deal in areas where you are a complete failure.”
Mr. Tharoor, however, has not reacted to the BJP’s charge.
