Hyderabad: Members of the Indian National Congress have harnessed social media with the hashtag #56InchGayab to target the BJP led Central government’s inaction on the spate of killings in Jammu and Kashmir.
The hashtag in question is a jibe at PM Modi who has in the past referred to his “56-inch-chest” and took pride in vanquishing terrorist hideouts in Pakistan to “protect Jammu and Kashmir”.
National spokesperson for the Indian National Congress Gourav Vallabh questioned the BJP government from the All India Congress Committee headquarters and stated that while the region has always been plagued by violence, the selective killing of people has increased exponentially.
Vallabh was speaking about the 32 people who were gunned down recently in the Valley which include nine members of the army as well as two migrant workers from the state of Bihar. He further added that considering Kashmir was under the control of Home Minister Amit Shah, it was bewildering to witness his silence on the issue.
The official account of the Congress targeted Narendra Modi in a series of tweets. “Chest thumping, event management & PR tactics don’t save lives PM Modi, the nation is waiting for you to realise this,” the party said in a tweet.
In another tweet, the party wrote, “How many more lives must we lose before the Modi govt realises what a colossal failure it has been.”
The Congress National Coordinator of Digital Communications and Social Media Gaurav Pandhi also tweeted on the issue by stating that the killings of soldiers and civilians in Kashmir help the BJP government carry out their divide agendas.
State General Secretary of the Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee Shahnawaz Choudhary, the All India Mahila Congress were among the other prominent accounts questioning the Prime Minister and the ruling dispensation’s inaction on the plight of the state.
The hashtag seems to be a targeted digital response, orchestrated by prominent members of Congress to shame the Modi-Shah-led Bharatiya Janata Party. Some tweets discussing the issue demanded that BJP grant full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, aid the migrant workers in the area as well as ensure that a regional government is set up democratically to handle the affairs in question.