After facing wrath over his abusive tweet against 'bhakts,' Congress leader Manish Tewari on Sunday evening issued a clarification, where he said that he did not mean to offend Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a thread of tweets, he clarified, "I put out a video ostensibly showing PM walking while National Anthem was playing. In response someone tweeted "AAP MODI Ko Deshbhakti Na 1/2"
"2/2 Sikhiyan- Unko Mahatma Gandhi v Nahi Sikha Sakta...' Subsequent Tweet in colloquial was deriding the response.No offence meant to PM 2/2"
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"3/3 or the Mahatma both of whom were invoked in response not my original tweet.In between flts saw the brouhaha on Twitter therefore context"
"4/4 if brouhaha is over Hindi phrase in colloquial -used to describe idiocity ¬hing more. In this case of person who put PM over Mahatma"
He also said, "Willing to apologise for using a 'colloquial' Hindi phraseHowever will PM promise to unfollow those who heap unmentionable abuse on women???"
The Congress leader raked up a controversy when he used an abusive word for Bhakts in a response to a Twitter user's suggestion that Narendra Modi had nothing to learn about desh bhakti from Mahatma Gandhi.
He tweeted, "Is Se Khate Hain Chu***on Ko Bhakt Bana Na or Bhakton Ko Permanent Ch***a Bana Na -Jai Ho. Even Mahatma cannot teach MODI Deshbhakti."
Twitter user Deepak was responding to a video shared by Tewari, which suggested that the Prime Minister had disrespected the national anthem.
Earlier an equally abusive message was posted by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
"Mere do achievements - bhakton ko ch*t*ya banaya aur ch*t*y** ko bhakt banaya, (My two achievements - I've turned followers (or devotees) into idiots, and idiots into followers).
Digvijay Singh evoked the ire of many by posting the controversial meme.
However, he stood his ground on defending his post and said that the retweet should not be counted as him saying those words.
"I just retweeted something. I did not abuse Prime Minister Modi. I have just said that he is the best in the art of fooling. Is it abusive?" Singh said to the media.