Having stirred a hornet's nest with his remarks seeming to imply that President Donald Trump could kidnap PM Narendra Modi like Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan clarified his intent was to warn that US actions threaten a collapse of the United Nations system.
Pressed about the kidnapping statement, he said that was not what he meant, and the point he was trying to make was that any action could be taken.
In his remarks earlier on Tuesday, which were seen by many to be tongue-in-cheek, Chavan, who is a former Maharashtra chief minister and a former Union minister, was talking about the US operation in Venezuela, when he asked: "Will something like what happened in Venezuela happen in India? Will Mr Trump kidnap our Prime Minister?"
Launching a volley against Chavan and the Congress, BJP Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the party's "anti-India ideology" has crossed all limits.
"The comment is strongly condemnable. Chavan has insulted sanatan and our forces after Operation Sindoor before. This is not the first time the opposition has made an anti-India statement," Poonawalla said.
Asked about his comments later in the day, the Congress leader told news agency PTI that he was talking about the US' actions in Venezuela being a complete violation of the UN charter and international rules and laws.
"After that, Trump also issued threats to the president of Colombia, which is a neighbouring country. He is also talking about seizing Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark, and Panama, which is an independent nation... So, if a consensus is not built on this in the world, the entire United Nations system can collapse, just as the League of Nations system collapsed. So, this was a warning that if all the countries together do not exercise caution, anything can happen to anyone," Chavan explained.
Asserting that he was not predicting anything would happen to India, Chavan said, without giving any proof, that Trump had been threatening PM Modi and had done so again recently.
"My only objective was to say that we should be worried," he said.
Asked specifically about the kidnapping remark, the former Union minister said, "It is not about kidnapping. Any action can be taken."
