Congress condemns, apologise for derogatory tweet against PM Modi

The Congress on Tuesday condemned and apologised after its Yuva Desh, Indian Youth Congress's online magazine, tweeted a derogatory and personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The handle is not run by Indian Youth Congress but by volunteers. I still take this opportunity and apologise and strongly condemn that tweet," Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Brar told ANI.

Echoing the similar sentiments, Youth Congress in-charge Suraj Hegde assured that the party was trying to find out the one who had put out a "humorous" picture of Modi in conversation with US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

"We condemn this and are apologetic. We are trying to find out who did that tweet as mainly volunteers run that page," he said.

In the picture, Modi is seen asking them if they were aware about the various 'memes' that have been circulated on the social media by the Opposition against him. Trump is then shown to correct Modi's pronunciation of 'memes' following which May takes a jibe at the prime minister's background as a tea vendor.

Hours after the tweet was put out, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani took notice and asked if Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi would approve of such a jibe at the country's head.

"This blatantly classist and anti-poor Tweet by the Youth Congress shows their mindset towards India's poor. Does Crown Prince @OfficeOfRG support this?" tweeted Rupani.

Yuva Desh's original tweet now stands deleted.

This is not the first time the Congress has taken reference to the prime minister's beginning as a tea vendor.

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had, in January 2014, before the Modi-wave took the nation by surprise, said "Modi would never become prime minister, but he was welcome to serve tea to Congressmen."

Latching on to the barb, Modi, then as BJP's prime ministerial candidate, attacked the Congress for not being able to "tolerate a person from backward caste who had humble beginnings".

Rahul Gandhi had then disapproved of the jibe at PM Modi being a subaltern.

The BJP had then turned Aiyar's attack into a campaign asset - "chai pe charcha" - rankling the Congress.