New Delhi: Khushbu Sundar, a BJP leader, is facing criticism over a tweet from 2018 that criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the Congress party targeted her following Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Parliament over his "Modi surname" remarks.


The 2018 tweet of the National Commission for Women (NCW) member has gone viral. "...Let's change the meaning of #Modi to corruption..suits better," she had tweeted.


“Yahan #Modi wahan #Modi jahan dekho #Modi..lekin yeh kya?? Har #Modi ke aage #bhrashtachaar surname laga hua hai..toh baat ko no samjho..#Modi mutlab #bhrashtachaar..let's change the meaning of #Modi to corruption..suits better..#Nirav #Lalit #Namo = corruption..,” she posted in Hindi.






Sundar said she was speaking the "language of the leader" then as she was told to do so and accused the opposition party of "desperation." She added that she had no intention of deleting the five-year-old post.


Explaining the tweet, Sundar said "I was in Congress party then and I was only performing my duty as the spokesperson of the Congress. This is the language we were supposed to speak and that is exactly what I was doing. I was following the party leader. This is his language." "Not only does it show how desperate they (Congress party) are, but it exposes their level of ignorance on the issue they are raking up," she told PTI.


In the wake of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification over his equating the surname Modi to "thieves" the party quickly picked on Khushbu's old tweet.


Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi via a Twitter post on Saturday morning, "will you make one of your disciples named Modi file a defamation case against Khushbu Sundar too?"


Sundar asked "what are the Congress leaders trying to do by picking on me? Are they equating me to Rahul Gandhi?"


She challenged Congress leaders to take legal action against her if they disagreed with her comments but accused them of being unable to distinguish between corruption and the theft allegations levelled by Gandhi. 


"Rahul Gandhi has stooped down to the level calling all Modis as thieves, I have only used the term 'Corruption'. The Congress party is incapable of seeing the difference. But if they have the guts, I challenge the Congress leaders to file a case against me and I will face them legally," she stated.


Sundar also claimed that the Congress party had always been unhappy with her appreciating the positive steps taken by the ruling BJP. "Whether it was the Triple Talaq, Abrogation of Article 370 or the launch of the New Education Policy (NEP), the Congress party always had a problem when I tweeted appreciation," she recalled.


An actor who has acted in over 100 films, Khushbu Sundar initially joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and then switched over to the Congress party before joining the BJP in 2020.


(With PTI inputs)