An animation film aimed at projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Vishwaguru” and shared on social media on Friday by the BJP and its leaders featured a mutilated Indian map, without a part of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The Congress seized on the opportunity to put the BJP on the mat, demanding an apology from the Prime Minister and BJP president J.P. Nadda.

While BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya and others quietly deleted the video, till late in the night there was no official word from the party, acknowledging the mistake or apologising for it. The video remained available at least on one BJP leader’s Twitter account.

“These people distribute certificates of patriotism to everybody. They are themselves the real traitors, showing parts of India’s territory as belonging to China and Pakistan,” Congress social media head Supriya Shrinate said.

“This is not a mistake. This is what they want. They have been playing with India’s territorial integrity.”

The controversy comes at a time the Congress and many military veterans have accused the Modi government of failing to stand up to the Chinese over border transgressions in Ladakh and, instead, ceding more territory by agreeing to fresh “buffer zones” within India-claimed lines.

They have repeatedly underlined Modi’s declaration of June 19, 2020, that none had entered or occupied Indian territory, which allowed China to deny any intrusions and claim ownership of all the territory it held.

“We will not tolerate any compromise with India’s territorial integrity. The BJP government had in 2016 brought the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill that stipulates a Rs 100-crore fine and seven years in jail for showing a distorted map (of India) on social media,” Shrinate said.

“Who will go to jail now? Will a case be registered against the BJP?”

The bill Shrinate mentioned has not been passed.