Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam found himself in the eye of a storm over a controversial poster by the Mumbai Congress on Monday. In the poster, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is seen hugging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it has a tagline that reads: “Nafrat se nahi, pyar se jitenge” (We will win by love, not hate).

The word "nafrat" (hatred) is painted in saffron, a colour associated with Hindu religion, while "pyar" (love) is painted in green, a colour commonly associated with Islam.

Twitter users were quick to point out the colour choices. They lost no time to slam the Congress for its "appeasement politics".

One of the first to point this out was BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya. He tweeted, “… just can’t conceal their hatred for all things Hindu”.
 

Soon, rebel Congress leader Shehzad Poonawala followed suit

Others started pointing fingers at the Congress, too
 

 
However, Nirupam said that this was a “cheap spin” to an otherwise "harmless" tweet. (find out if "harmless" was the word he used)
 

 
The Congress has been battling to correct their image of an ‘anti-Hindu’ party for quite some time.

From Shashi Tharoor’s "Hindu Pakistan" remark to a purported quote in Urdu daily Inquilab attributed to Rahul Gandhi stating, "Congress is a Muslim party", it has been a rough ride for the Congress.