As the Congress on Monday (24 August) woke up to a kind of civil war where its senior leaders hit back after being accused of having colluded with the BJP, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra couldn’t help but take a dig with a slogan that mocked the controversial slogan of ‘Hum Kya Chahte – Azadi’ (What do we want – freedom) that often resonates in Kashmir and in JNU protests.

Mishra tweeted, “Ghulam kya mange – Azadi, Sibal kya mange – Azadi (What does Ghulam want – freedom, What does Sibal want – freedom)”. It was a direct reference to veteran Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s outburst where they asked the party to prove allegations of collusion with BJP against them.

According to party sources, Azad, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, while speaking in the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, said, “if you prove that I am colluding with BJP, I will quit right now.”

Similarly, senior leader Sibal tweeted, “Rahul Gandhi says ‘we are colluding with BJP’. Succeeded in Rajasthan High Court defending the Congress Party. Defending party in Manipur to bring down BJP government. Last 30 years have never made a statement in favour of BJP on any issue. Yet ‘we are colluding with the BJP’!”

This comes in the wake of Rahul Gandhi questioning the timing of a letter by 23 dissenters and Haryana Congress leader Kumari Selja targeting them for writing it to seek a leadership change as she branded those who wrote the letter as “agents of the BJP”.

Mishra couldn’t let go off the opportunity to insinuate that both Azad and Sibal need “freedom” from the Congress. Interestingly, the slogan bears an uncanny resemblance to JNU protest slogans that earlier made headlines.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)