Congress Mocks Modi’s Hugplomacy in Video, BJP Calls it ‘Neech’

New Delhi: The Congress party on Sunday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘hugplomacy’, or his penchant for giving hugs to heads of state during diplomatic meets, kicking off a war of words with the BJP.

In a video posted on the Congress twitter handle on the day Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu touched down in Delhi for his six-day visit, Modi’s famous hugs with various world leaders are ridiculed with gifs and satirical descriptions.

The video starts by dubbing Modi’s interactions with other premiers “as awkward”, using old footage of his meetings with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to drive home the point.

It goes on to lampoon his meetings with several world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkey’s Reccip Erdogan. Special attention, however, was reserved for Modi’s ‘Titanic Hug’ with former French President Francois Hollande and ‘barely there’ hug with Netanyahu.

While Congress saw nothing wrong with the video and said it fairly represented Modi’s failed foreign policy, it left the BJP fuming.

BJP MP Babul Supriyo called it a ‘neech’ moment for the Congress considering that Netanyahu is in India.

“They are commenting on Modi's foreign policy at a time when he was ranked as top global leader in a recent survey. The video has no humour and satire. Look at the timing, they are releasing it at the time of a crucial visit by Israel’s PM. This shows how their leader could go ahead with the neech remark. You may not like modi as person but at least respect the constitutional post of the PM,” he said.

Congress leader Sanjay Jha defended the video, saying, “I’m appalled at political hypocrisy of BJP to say they find it highly personalized. This video just expresses a view that many people in India hold - that Modi’s foreign policy is a monumental failure.”

This is not the first time Congress has used the ‘hugplomacy’ jibe to target Modi. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had called Modi's relationship with Trump “failed hugplomacy” after the US president said he was working on improving ties with Pakistan in October last year. He again used it in November when Pakistan freed Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed from house arrest.