BJP responds to Divya Spandana's 'bird dropping' tweet mocking Narendra Modi, says it's Congress values that are dropping

The Congress’ social media chief Divya Spandana is no stranger to controversies . Her latest tweet, once again, targets Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the newly-unveiled statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

The Statue of Unity was built in dedication to Patel, who served as the first home minister of Independent India. At 182 metres, the statue is 23 metres taller than China’s Spring Temple Buddha statue and almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty (93 metres) in the US.

In her tweet on Thursday, Divya shared an image of Modi standing by the foot of the statue and paired it with the caption: “Is that bird dropping?”

The BJP did not take long to respond. “Ummm no, it is the values of the Congress that are dropping,” the party tweeted. “Historical disdain for Sardar Patel + Pathological dislike for @narendramodi = Such language.” 

Hours earlier, Spandana had quoted a tweet by the Congress Twitter account, which pointed out the cost of constructing the Statue of Unity versus Modi’s alleged budget on advertisement. She tweeted: “Main apna fav hoon! @narendramodi iron man vs wax man.”

In an apparent criticism of the Congress, in particular Spandana’s tweet, National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said the attacks on the prime minister’s “person as opposed to his policies and performance actually play to Mr Modi’s advantage”.

“I’m not sure the people making these attacks even realise this at all,” he tweeted. “Not to mention bringing down the general level of discourse.”

The prime minister dedicated the 182-metre statue — constructed on a river island called Sadhu Bet near the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat’s Narmada district — to the nation on Wednesday. The event did not escape criticism, with the Opposition questioning why a taller structure was not built for Mahatma Gandhi .

Congress president Rahul Gandhi  accused the government of treason , saying that the Centre may have built a structure in Sardar Patel’s memory even though there was a “systematic destruction” of the institutions he had helped build.

“Ironic that a statue of Sardar Patel is being inaugurated, but every institution he helped build is being smashed,” Rahul tweeted. “The systematic destruction of India’s institutions is nothing short of treason.”