Congress tweets PM Modi’s ‘hugplomacy’ video, BJP calls it immature

The Congress posted a video with the hashtag “Hugplomacy” on its official Twitter handle that seemingly captured a few “awkward” moments in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meetings with different world leaders.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday condemned a video released by Congress that appeared to attempt highlighting the “awkwardness” in Prime Minister Narendra Modi hugging various world leaders, charging the Opposition party with having lost its “sense and balance”.

In this photograph released by the Press Information Bureau, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu on his arrival at Palam.(AFP Photo)

“The Congress has no real issue to talk on and, therefore, it has resorted to such shallow tricks. They have had their dirty tricks department which is now coming forward on social media,” Union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said.

He said that the kind of video that has been posted “does not behove a mature political party”.

“Modiji’s influence as world leader is increasing. Today only a survey found him at number 3 in popularity as a world leader. And when that is happening, the Congress party seems to have lost its sense and balance. It shows their immaturity,” Javadekar added.

He said the video has been released on a day when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting India and that when a foreign leader is on our soil, “there are rules and there are conventions” but the Congress “seems to have lost everything”.

“What they have given on their Twitter account... is in bad taste and the lowest ebb of the Congress party. We condemn it and I hope that wisdom will prevail some day,” the Minister said.

Earlier in the day, the Congress posted a video hashtag “Hugplomacy” on its official Twitter handle that seemingly captured a few “awkward” moments in Modi meeting different world leaders including US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and also Netanyahu, among others.

The tweet read: “With Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu visiting India, we look forward to more hugs from PM Modi! #Hugplomacy.”