Several BJP leaders have flooded social media with satirical jibes aimed at the Congress’s poll manifesto after the saffron party alleged that it featured images from Thailand and the Buffalo River of New York. The Congress also faced brickbats from social media users for using the pictures of foreign locations in the environment and water management sections of the manifesto.
The BJP alleged that a picture of grasslands from Thailand was used under the environment section of the Congress manifesto for Lok Sabha elections. Under the water management section, the Congress used a picture of the “Buffalo River of New York”, BJP claimed.
In a post on X, BJP IT-cell in-charge Amit Malviya took a jibe at the party and asked “whether it was a manifesto for India or a holiday itinerary of Rahul Gandhi”.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise if Rahul Gandhi dashes off to Thailand, for yet another holiday, soon after the election,” Malviya taunted.
In a press conference on Friday, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi also took a swipe at the party for the alleged faux pas.
“There is a picture on water management in Congress’ manifesto. This picture is of the Buffalo River in New York state. Till now, they have not been able to find out who was tweeting from their social media chairperson’s Twitter. Under the Environment section, a picture from Rahul Gandhi’s favoured destination, Thailand, has been put. Who is putting all this in their manifesto?” Trivedi said.
The remark was an apparent dig at Congress leader Supriya Shrinate, who recently came under fire for an objectionable post against actor and BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate Kangana Ranaut.
After a political furore erupted over her post, Shrinate claimed that the remark was posted by somebody who had access to her social media accounts.
Kanchan Gupta, senior advisor at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, also taunted Rahul Gandhi.
“Shriman Rahul Gandhi’s ode to Bangkok: Tu jahan jahan chalega, mera saaya saath hoga… Such is the profound impact of Rahul’s preferred getaway destination on Nehru Dynasty property Congress that Thailand features pictorially in the Congress manifesto,” he tweeted.
Two years ago, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor came under severe criticism after his manifesto for the Congress chief’s election showed a map of India without parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Tharoor apologised for the gaffe and shared a revised version after the BJP attacked him over it.
However, it is not just the Congress who have stirred controversy over manifesto blunders.
In 2022, before the Gujarat Assembly election, the BJP was mocked after several leaders tweeted images of a Mumbai multi-lane flyover to claim infrastructural development in Gujarat. The flyover in the BJP’s graphic was of the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road in Mumbai.
