New Delhi: The Congress and a host of its top leaders on Wednesday changed their display pictures on social media accounts to an image of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru holding the national flag, evoking a “dynastic” jibe from the BJP.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several BJP leaders made the ‘tiranga’ their profile picture on social media platforms, Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and the party’s official handle on Twitter and other social media platforms posted a photograph of Nehru with the tricolour as their display pictures.
The BJP took a dig at the Congress over it, saying Rahul Gandhi should look outside his family and allow party members to use their photos with the Tricolour.
“Our tiranga is the pride of our country, the tiranga is in the heart of every Indian,” former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet as he changed the display picture of his social media accounts.
His colleague Jairam Ramesh took a dig at the prime minister, asking if the organisation that did not hoist the national flag at its headquarters in Nagpur for 52 years will comply with his message to make the ‘tiranga’ the profile picture of social media accounts.
“In the Lahore session of 1929, while hoisting the flag on the banks of river Ravi, Pandit Nehru said, ‘Once again you have to remember that this flag has now been hoisted. As long as there is a single Indian man, woman, child alive, the prestige of this tricolour should not be lowered,” Ramesh tweeted in Hindi.
“We are putting the DP of our leader Nehru with the tricolour in hand. But it seems that the message of the Prime Minister did not reach his own family. Those who did not hoist the flag in their headquarters in Nagpur for 52 years, will they follow the Prime Minister’s message?” Ramesh said in an obvious reference to the RSS. He used the hashtag ‘MyTirangaMyPride’.
In a jibe at the BJP over the change in flag code to allow for polyester flags, Ramesh tagged a tweet with Nehru’s picture holding the flag and said,”and that is in Khadi”.
Asked about the Congress leaders’ changing their social media display pictures, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “I believe there should not be dynastic politics in every issue… They have displayed the picture of their leader who was the country’s first prime minister. The tricolour belongs to the poorest of the poor and to 135 crore Indians.”
“Anyone can hold the tricolour and put it in their DP (display picture)… His (Gandhi’s) family has been in politics from the beginning. I feel Rahul Gandhi should give others a chance. It will be very good if his party workers display their picture with the tricolour,” Patra said.
He, however, added, “At least the tricolour is coming up”.
The country is honoured when an ordinary person, the last person in the queue, holds the national flag high and lauds the nation, he said.
Patra also cited the election of Droupadi Murmu as the country’s first tribal President in this context.
During the press conference, the BJP spokesperson asked all parties, including those in the opposition, to join the government’s ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ programme, saying programmes like this are beyond politics.
Congress’ media department head Pawan Khera as well as some other party leaders shared screenshots of the Twitter handles of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its chief Mohan Bhagwat and pointed out that they had not changed their profile pictures to reflect the Tricolour.
“People of the Sangh, at least now adopt the tricolour,” Khera tweeted.
Among the other party leaders who changed their DPs in the run-up to Independence Day were Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera and Supriya Shrinate.
The official Twitter handle of the party as well as that of the Congress Seva Dal and other party-related organisations also changed their profile pictures on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
“The tricolour is in our hearts, it is in our veins as blood… Let us all make this tricolour which gives the message of unity, our identity. Jai Hind,” the Congress said on Twitter.
On Tuesday, Modi changed his display picture on social media accounts to the national flag and urged people to do the same as part of a collective movement to celebrate the tricolour.
Other senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers and chief ministers, followed suit.
Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari and chief ministers Yogi Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan were among a large number of party members who switched their profile pictures on Twitter to the national flag.
In his Mann ki Baat radio broadcast on Sunday, Modi said the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ is turning into a mass movement and urged people to put the ‘tiranga’ as the profile picture of their social media accounts between August 2 and 15.
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