A day after posting the video of Rahul Gandhi partying at a nightclub in Nepal, BJP leader and social media chief Amit Malviya on Wednesday accused Rahul Gandhi’s supposed friend of anti-India beliefs and asked why Rahul Gandhi has ties with “only those who are challenging India’s territorial integrity?”
Rahul Gandhi’s video has started a war of words between the BJP and the Congress with the Congress spokesperson clarifying that Rahul Gandhi was in Nepal for a private wedding function of a friend who also happened to be a journalist. “Rahul Gandhi has not gone as an uninvited guest like Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone to Pakistan to celebrate the birthday and cut cakes for the then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. Rahul Gandhi has gone to a friendly country Nepal to participate in a private marriage function of a friend. By chance, the friend also happens to be a journalist,” the Congress leader said.
“Last I checked, having a family in this country and having friends, attending marriage and engagement ceremonies is a matter of our culture and civilisation. It has still not become a crime in this country to be married, to be friends with someone or to attend their marriage celebration. Maybe after today, Prime Minister Modi or the BJP may decide that it is illegal to attend a marriage. They may say it is a crime to have friends or participate in family functions,” he said.
According to the Kathmandu Post, Rahul Gandhi was in Nepal to attend the wedding of Sumnima Udas, who was a CNN journalist. Sumnima is also the daughter of Nepal’s former ambassador to Myanmar, Bhim Udas.
Referring to a tweet of 2020 which was posted by Sumnima Udas, where she wrote that Nepal should have issued a new map decades ago, Amit Malviya said Rahul Gandhi’s friend actively supports ‘Nepal’s claim over regions of India’s Uttarakhand’.
As soon as Rahul Gandhi’s video went viral, fake claims were made that the woman with whom Rahul Gandhi was seen in the video was a Chinese diplomat.
Reacting to a fake news busting story, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday tweeted, “We need a fact-checking culture on social media. Would Twitter and Facebook consider linking fact-checks like this to every appearance or repetition of the fake news? I have been a victim myself of so much disinformation w/ blatant photoshops going viral.”
Social media users claimed Sumnima Udas got married to Nima Martin Sherpa, who is a China-based businessman.