 "Paresh Rawal hits back at Congress with 'bar-wala' comment; then apologises and withdraws tweet")
Actor-turned-politician Paresh Rawal courted controversy on Tuesday, after he attempted to hit back at Congress over the latter’s “chaiwallah” jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rawal tweeted saying “our chaiwala is any day better than your bar-wala” (sic). He then faced a backlash on social media, with Twitterati calling his remarks derogatory to women. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala responded to Rawal’s tweet with one that asked the BJP if all its MPs have stooped to this level, and if Rawal’s tweets are said to be indicative of the party’s stand on women.
क्या अब ईस घटियापन व गंदगी पर उतर आएँ हैं गुजरात के भाजपा सांसद? क्या यही हैं महिला सम्मान की भाजपाई परिभाषा?
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) November 22, 2017
माफ़ी माँगें मोदीजी और कार्यवाही करें।
क्या भक्त चैनल साहस दिखाएँगे? pic.twitter.com/GB0l3sTxRb
The backlash forced Rawal to delete his tweet and issue an apology. He sent a clarification later in the day, whereby he said he deleted the tweet because it was “in bad taste”.
Deleted the tweet as it’s in bad taste n I apologise for hurting feelings .
— Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) November 21, 2017
The back and forth between Congress and BJP started after Yuva Desh, a Twitter handle belonging to its youth wing tweeted a meme taunting Modi over the latter’s tea-selling days. The meme showed Modi with Donald Trump and Theresa May, whereby he mispronounces the word ‘meme’, leading to Trump correcting his pronunciation and May suggesting Modi stick to selling tea.
Congress' online magazine tweets derogatory meme attacking PM Modi, deletes later
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) November 21, 2017
Read @ANI story | https://t.co/4uBvxWHfBM pic.twitter.com/JhH82acg5S
The tweet was subsequently deleted, and the Congress disassociated itself from the Twitter handle, saying it was handled by the party’s volunteers and things posted on it weren’t representative of the official party line.
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