A reel posted by a senior BJP leader Ravinder Raina, in which he is seen running in the snow with security personnel, has drawn sharp responses from Opposition leaders.
A member of BJP's national executive, Mr Raina is a former Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief and a former MLA. Yesterday, he uploaded a short video on social media that shows him running in the snow with at least five armed security personnel following him. Mr Raina and others are seen smiling in the reel. Aarambh Hai Prachand, Piyush Mishra's intense song from the movie Gulaal, plays in the background. The caption just said, "Jai Hind".
The reel, posted less than two weeks after the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 innocents dead, has prompted a backlash as Opposition leaders hit out at Mr Raina for the misuse of security personnel.
Senior Congress leader Supriya Shrinate has said the whole country is in mourning after the Pahalgam attack. "Somebody has lost his young son, somebody his father, somebody her husband. And this person is in a frolicking mood? He is shooting reels? Misusing security personnel? Where do they get so much shamelessness? Is insensitivity the BJP's character?" she asked. The Congress leader addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief JP Nadda and asked if they would remain silent on this.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, Rajya Sabha MP from Shiv Sena (UBT), described the post as "reel game on point". "If you have security such as this ek reel toh banti hai. Security forces can protect borders later, BJP waalon ko bachana bahut zaroori hai," she said.
Congress's Kerala unit shared the reel on X and said this was the treatment "BJP leaders or even fake PMO officials get". "But not a single police or military person was posted where over 2000 tourists visit. Not a single gunshot was fired back," it said.
Several handles linked to the Congress slammed the BJP leader for the reel. Mr Raina is yet to respond to the allegations.
