Congress, BJP locked in idiom battle over I-T raids on Bollywood celebrities

The I-T raids on actor Taapsee Pannu and director Anurag Kashyap sparked off a war of idioms between the Congress and the BJP.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused the Modi government of targeting the Bollywood duo, who had spoken in favour of the farmers agitating against the farm laws, using a popular Hindi phrase.

“Khisiyani billi khamba noche (an embarrassed cat displays anger): the manner in which government orders raids on supporters of farmers,” Gandhi said referring to the I-T raids on Pannu and Kashyap.

He also accused the government of making the central probe agencies I-T, ED, CBI – “dance to its tunes”.

Read: Raids on Taapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap unveil Rs 650 crore discrepancy: I-T department

I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar hit back at the Congress leader using the idiom – ‘Sau choohe kha kar billi haj ko chali’ (a cat embarks on a pilgrimage after committing 100s of sins).

“Congress, which stifled media freedom during Emergency, is dishing out sermons on media freedom,” Javadekar said.

He also dubbed the Congress as ‘ranga siyar’ (coloured jackal). “The most communal party pretends to be secular. The party of one family is giving lessons on democracy,” Javadekar said.

At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said that the Modi government has given complete freedom to probe agencies, and no one is a Bollywood star or a celebrity in their eyes.

“Everybody now gets the same treatment while it is the Congress’s character to bend laws to help certain people and spare even criminals if they sing praises of the Gandhi family,” Bhatia claimed.

In a separate tweet, Gandhi cited another media report on the government’s handling of the border issue with China to attack the Centre.

“GOI believes media management is a substitute for geopolitical strategy. China has already made us pay a price for this. Continuing down this path will be disastrous for India,” the Wayanad MP said.