'Hug Xi, Bow to Xi': Rahul Gandhi takes down 'weak Modi' as China blocks Masood Azhar's terror tag

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to launch a blistering attack on the Narendra Modi government over China blocking fresh bid to tag Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council. “Weak Modi is scared of Xi. Not a word comes out of his mouth when China acts against India,” Gandhi tweeted. “NoMo’s China Diplomacy: 1. Swing with Xi in Gujarat 2. Hug Xi in Delhi 3. Bow to Xi in China,” he added.

Last night, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had also termed the UN vote as Modi’s diplomatic disaster. “A sad day in the global fight against terrorism! China blocking Masood Azhar's designation as global terrorist reaffirms Chinese position of being an inseparable ally of terrorism’s breeding ground-Pakistan Sadly, Modiji's Foreign Policy has been a series of Diplomatic Disasters,” Surjewala had said on Twitter.

The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US on February 27, days after a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, leading to a flare-up in tensions between India and Pakistan. In a late-night vote, Beijing placed a technical hold on the terror tag on Masood Azhar in the UNSC.

The attack comes at a time when the BJP was trying to corner Gandhi over allegedly saying Masood Azhar ‘ji’. Whereas, the Congress chief has been attacking the Modi government over the issue. Previously, the Congress president shared images of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval when he went to Kandahar for handing over Masood Azhar in exchange 160 passengers and crew of the IC 814 Indian Airlines Airbus A300. Taking to micro-blogging website Twitter, Gandhi had written: “PM Modi please tell the families of our 40 CRPF Shaheeds, who released their murderer, Masood Azhar? Also tell them that your current NSA was the deal maker, who went to Kandahar to hand the murderer back to Pakistan (sic).” Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar was released by the then BJP government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as part of a deal to free the Kandahar plane hijack hostages in December 1999.