Netizens have reacted with shock after a video of spokespersons from the BJP and the Congress trading expletives during a TV show on Aaj Tak went viral. The said show was being moderated by anchor Anjana Om Kashyap.
During the TV debate, Congress spokesperson, Alok Sharma, reacted angrily accusing BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia of calling him ‘dalle (pimp).’ Responding to Bhatia’s said utterance, Sharma said, “You are pimp and your father is a pimp.”
The ugly exchange of expletives between two spokespersons on a national TV evoked strong reactions from netizens as they began to fervently share the video on social media platforms.
Bhatia, for his part denied calling his political rival a pimp saying that he had merely called Sharma ‘jhutalle.’
He tweeted, “Call Congress spokesperson “jhootalla”, but he hears ‘dalla.’ Then he starts abusing me and my late father. This is the abusive spokesperson of Congress.”
कांग्रेस प्रवक्ता को “झुटल्ला” बोलो उन्हे दल्ला सुनाई देता है।
फिर वह मुझे और मेरे स्वर्गीय पिताजी को गाली देने लगते हैं।
यह है कांग्रेस के गालिवाले प्रवक्ता#GaaliwaalePravakta @aajtak pic.twitter.com/gwzC1nE10i— Gaurav Bhatia गौरव भाटिया (@gauravbh) October 21, 2022
Bhatia’s clarification aside, Twitter users had their own take on the fresh TV shenanigan involving politicians from two of India’s prominent political parties.
Journalist Uma Shankar Singh wrote in Hindi, “The BJP speaker spoke abusive words to the Congress speaker in the middle of the news channel debate. Congress speaker gave a powerful response. The moral of the story: The first user of abusive language has no moral power to complain to the second user. Therefore, you must weigh your words before speaking.”
User Deep Singh Patel tweeted, “U can expect this from gaurav bhatia…he is master in these type of foils.”
However, a supporter of Bhatia objected to certain news outlet’s headline portraying the BJP spokesperson as a culprit. “Change your headline and article with correct information @Jansatta and apologize to Shri Gaurav Bhatia ji, Unconditionally!!!” wrote Twitter user Minty Sharma.