The twitter handle of State BJP unit came under fire on social media after being called out over a meme which blamed anti-CAA activist Sharjeel Imam's 'action' for the 'reaction' of a teenager shooting a Jamia student in Delhi on Thursday. The State Congress unit, responding to the tweet said that it was akin to the State BJP unit claiming responsibility for the 'terror attack'.
Soon after the BJP Karnataka pulled the post down, it re-posted the same meme with a caption countering its initial post, and termed the teenager 'anti-national'. The same tweet which used the popular 'art-artist' template was re-captioned 'Action by Govt' over Sharjeel's image - referring to sedition charges booked against him for his speech, while the caption over the Uttar Pradesh teenager read 'Reaction by Anti-nationals'.
While the first 'Action', 'reaction' tweet was posted at 1.17 pm, it was pulled down within minutes. It was reposted with a different caption at 2.06 pm.
The State Congress unit was among those who criticised the post by the State BJP twitter handle. Posting both the versions of the tweets, it tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and sought a response from the duo. "BJP Karnataka has claimed responsibilty for the terror attack on Delhi. Provocatory statements of Union Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur, state Revenue Minister R Ashok, Tourism Minister CT Ravi has borne fruit," Congress tweeted.
Even as the tweets by the BJP unit continued to attract criticism, BJP responded to the tweet by Congress, holding it responsible for encouraging anti-national elements.
"We have only tried to depict this harsh truth in front of the people. Truth doesn't turn false if you twist it according to your will. Please stop fooling people," it wrote.
Like the responses for the previous tweet, many users continued to wonder why the BJP state unit had deleted the earlier tweet and re-posted the same meme with an opposite view.