New Delhi: It was the sharpest attack from the ruling BJP on Congress president Rahul Gandhi, shortly after his scornful tweet. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the BJP questioned the timing and need for the smirk in Rahul Gandhi's tweet. 

Gandhi, earlier today, had attributed China for vetoing the motion of declaring Masood Azhar as a global terrorist at the UNSC to a ‘lack of might’ in India's diplomatic efforts under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gandhi tweeted, "Weak Modi is scared of Xi" while ridiculing the fact Xi Jinping and Modi sat on a swing in Gujarat during the latter's India visit, notwithstanding the fact it took years before Wednesday's decision.

Prasad, in fact, went on to ask a series of questions to Rahul Gandhi, in what clearly turned into a full-blown political war of words. Prasad reminded Gandhi it was because of Nehru that China, which blocked Azhar’s branding for the fourth time in a row, is in the UNSC in the first place.

"Baat niklegi to dur talak jayegi" (If you start the war of words, it will go a long way), said Prasad. The BJP leader fired from the shoulders of another Congressman Shashi Tharoor. Prasad cited excerpts of a book by Tharoor — Nehru: Invention of India — to substantiate his claim as to how a prominent member of the Nehru-Gandhi family has been responsible for China getting the UNSC seat. 

Taking a cue from Prasad, BJP cited an article of 2004 too, published in an English daily to suggest 'Jawaharlal Nehru declined a United States offer for India to take a permanent seat' in the UN security council.


Those were the 1950s. India’s first Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi's great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru had to grab the opportunity for India to join the United Nations Security Council as a permanent member. Nehru refused the chance on a supposed moral ground, thus sacrificing India's national interest.

BJP may be indulging in political rhetoric by targeting Gandhi's great grandfather, but it's a historical fact. Had it not been Nehru's refusal, China wouldn't have been in the UNSC to block the motion on Masood Azhar, the villain of the cowardly Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, from being recognised as a global terrorist.