New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi's hug caused much bigger tremors in political circles than his attack and some senior Congress leaders did not appreciate the gesture that diverted attention from the pointed Rafale strike on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Towards the end of his speech during the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, after making lethal attacks that triggered wild protests from the treasury benches, Rahul said: "You will think there is anger and hatred in my heart against the Prime Minister and BJP president. No, I instead feel grateful to the Prime Minister, RSS and BJP for teaching the meaning of being a Hindustani, of being a Congressman. I thank you for teaching me the meaning of being a Hindu, of Lord Shiva."

He continued: "Whatever somebody does to you - abuse, beat up with a lathi - you nurture hate and anger against me, call me Pappu, I don't have an iota of hatred or anger against you. This emotion has built India and I will bring out this feeling among you all. I will transform all of you into the Congress."

As most BJP members, including the Prime Minister, and Speaker Sumitra Mahajan burst into laughter, Rahul started walking towards the treasury benches. He gestured to the Prime Minister to rise for a hug but Modi was not amused and kept looking askance at the advancing rival.

Rahul reached Modi's seat and asked him to rise, opening his arms for a hug. But the Prime Minister did not move and tried to shake hands instead. At this point, Rahul bent and hugged the seated Modi, who looked awkward and embarrassed. As Rahul was returning, the Prime Minister called him back, held his hands and whispered into his ears. Did he congratulate the Congress president on his speech? We don't know.

Rahul returned to his seat and reiterated that violence and hatred do not have any place in India and Hinduism.

While many Congress MPs congratulated him for the "great speech" and the "hug-shock", some leaders felt he had overreached himself and a few described it as "childish".

One Rajya Sabha MP, who did not approve of the hug, however told The Telegraph: "The fallout will be positive for us. Modi refused to get up and embrace the young man. Any decent man would have reacted with grace. Modi was arrogant even in response to this sweet gesture."

Most Congress members though called it a masterstroke and a surgical strike on Modi's arrogance.

The party's communications chief Randeep Surjewala tweeted: " Humne duniya mein muhabbat ka asar zinda kiya hai/virodhi ko gale mil-mil ke sharminda kiya hai." The couplet talks of spreading love and also of embarrassing the rival with hugs.

MASTER HUGGER: WHAT ARE THEY GRIPING ABOUT?

Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar has described as “childish” Rahul Gandhi hugging the Prime Minister. Union minister Harsimrat Kaur said Rahul could not do the “pappi-jhappi moment” in the House. “They call us Punjabis as nashedi (drug addicts). So I also asked him (Rahul) with a smile ‘aaj aap kaunsa kar ke aae hain (what did you take today’)?” Kaur told reporters later.  

Neither the BJP nor its allies are learned to have raised objections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi fine-tuned hugging into a diplomatic tool when he met foreign dignitaries

A correction. July 29, 2018
In an earlier version of this report, the second last photograph was captioned incorrectly as Modi hugging Xi Jinping. The photo shows Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrapping each other in a hug. The error is regretted.