The BJP and Congress were back to attacking each other on Tuesday, putting aside the brief pause in their rivalry after last week’s terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress accused the BJP of “taking orders from Pakistan” and post a picture refering to PM modi with text 'Gayab'.

This heated rivalry started after the Congress posted a photo on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday night. The photo showed PM Modi’s outfit, a yellow kurta, white pyjamas, and black shoes, but with the Prime Minister's head edited out. The caption read: “In times of need, missing.”

The Congress' social media post was aimed at pointing out its criticism that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been "missing in action" during the Pahalgam terror crisis. The party has strongly objected to the PM skipping the all-party meeting held last week to discuss the attack.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said he raised this issue directly at the meeting. “The first question I raised was that when the government calls such an important meeting, the Prime Minister should be there. Since he wasn’t, we said it was not right,” Kharge told reporters afterwards.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister was in Bihar, a state gearing up for elections attending a government event. From there, he gave a strong message, in English, warning the terrorists and their handlers behind the Pahalgam attack, likely aiming for wider international attention.

The BJP hit back strongly at the Congress after its social media post about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the party of siding with Pakistan and using sneaky tactics under Rahul Gandhi's direction.Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur referred to PM Modi’s past tough warning to Pakistan: “If you spill even one drop of our blood, we won’t let a single drop of water from the Indus flow.”

He also reminded that India had taken bold steps like suspending the Indus Waters Treaty. Thakur questioned why the Congress and other opposition parties seemed to speak “in Pakistan’s language,” asking, “Doesn’t their blood boil when Indians are killed? Don’t they want revenge?” BJP’s Amit Malviya also slammed the Congress’ X post, calling it a political trick aimed at appealing to Muslim voters and subtly inciting anger against the Prime Minister.

The war of words between the BJP and Congress escalated further, with more leaders from the ruling party accusing the opposition of siding with Pakistan. BJP’s Amit Malviya said it’s not the first time Congress used such tactics, accusing Rahul Gandhi of encouraging violence against the PM.

Party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari went a step further, claiming that Pakistan was quoting Congress posts, saying, “Pakistan is batting for Congress, and Congress is bowling for Pakistan.” BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla dubbed Congress the “Pakistan Prasth Party” after a Pakistanipolitician reshared their post.

LJP leader Chirag Paswan, a BJP ally, also joined in, highlighting J&K leader Omar Abdullah’s comments as timely. The Congress’ 'missing PM' post has ended any temporary pause in political attacks following the Pahalgam terror strike, just as major elections in Bihar, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu draw near.

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