The Congress began Monday on the front foot, nailing Union minister Smriti Irani’s “lie” about Rahul Gandhi forsaking a “pranam to Swami Vivekanandaji” while inaugurating the Bharat Jodo Yatra at Kanyakumari, although the Congress leader had paid homage at the Vivekananda Memorial.

Hours later, the party had got caught in a slugfest with the BJP over a mocking graphic of burning khaki shorts — a clear allusion to the RSS — on the Congress Twitter handle.

As the “knickers” row threatened to overshadow the objectives of the Yatra and the impressive public response to it, thus playing into the hands of the BJP which has been trying to deflect attention from the march to trivial issues, the Congress tried course correction.

Party communications chief Jairam Ramesh recalled the BJP’s “cheap” attempts from day one to malign the Yatra and said the image of khaki shorts on fire was an attempt to show “the heartburn of the divisive forces through a cartoon”.

“Those who stoke fires of hatred in the country can’t tolerate a symbolic burning of knickers in a cartoon?” he tweeted in Hindi.

Irani had tweeted: “I want to ask the Congress party today. You claim you are marching to unite India? Arrey, if you started out from Kanyakumari, you should at least not have been so shameless, you should at least have done pranam to Swami Vivekanandaji. But that’s not acceptable to Rahul Gandhi….”

Congress leaders pounced on her comment, posting the video of Rahul’s visit to the Vivekananda Memorial and asking whether she was fit to be a Union minister.

“The BJP is running a lie factory. They are spreading falsehood about the Yatra. They are rattled by the massive response of the people. From some ministers, we expect nothing but lies. We saw another example,” Ramesh said.

“We cannot stoop that low to discuss T-shirts, shoes, socks and underwear with them. We have posted the video of Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Vivekananda Memorial. If Smriti Irani, who is herself embroiled in a scam, needs a fresh pair of spectacles to see it, we can send the same to her.”

Union minister Smriti Irani in Karnataka on Saturday. PTI picture

Days ago, the BJP had accused Rahul of wearing an expensive T-shirt on the Yatra and scoffed at his efforts “to unite India wearing a foreign T-shirt”.

As the BJP hit back over the image of the burning khaki shorts, many Congress leaders privately admitted that the tweet had enmeshed the party in an avoidable controversy.

The message accompanying the image in the Congress tweet had left no doubt over the intended target. “To free the country from shackles of hate and undo the damage done by BJP-RSS. Step by step, we will reach our goal,” the message said.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra saw in the tweet an attempt to instigate violence and set the country on fire.

Patra said Rahul was a habitual troublemaker. He alleged, without citing evidence, that Rahul had instigated farmers to engage in arson while they were agitating against the now-repealed farm laws, and made similar incitements when youths were protesting against the Agnipath armed forces recruitment scheme.

Senior RSS functionary Manmohan Vaidya said: “The Congress wants to connect people to hatred. They have harboured hatred for us for a long time now. Their father and grandfather despised the Sangh a lot and tried really hard to stop the RSS.”

Many BJP leaders accused the Congress of instigating violence against the RSS.

The dominant view in the Congress is that nothing should be done to facilitate the BJP’s efforts of using trivial controversies to divert attention from the issues of jobs, prices and social harmony that the Yatra has brought into public focus.

Ramesh asked the BJP not to mislead the nation by raising irrelevant issues. “If you are aggressive, we will hit back with double force,” he said.

“The real issue is that those who opposed the ‘Bharat Chhodo’ call (given by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942) are now burning with jealousy at the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he tweeted.

“People who burn India shouldn’t ask questions; those who killed Gandhi and support (Nathuram) Godse need to give answers.”