Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was campaigning for a BJP candidate from the Indian city of Thane in Maharashtra, where election polls are due to be held on 21 October.
To solicit the support of voters for the BJP, which exists with a lotus flower as an election symbol, Maurya said: “If people press the lotus symbol, it will mean a nuclear bomb has been automatically dropped on Pakistan”.
“Kindly vote for BJP and make our party win once again in Maharashtra state. I believe lotus will definitely bloom in the upcoming elections”, he added.
The minister’s remark left the netizens flabbergasted, taking to Twitter to slam him with the most amusing reactions, trolling him on the social media platform.
Several users mocked him by saying that “the war would now begin at polling booths”, while another said, “why to purchase rafale jets if a vote can evade Pakistan [sic]”.
Others, meanwhile, pointed out the implications to him of a nuclear attack.
There were also those who called him out for neglecting the issues of employment, health, and education as agendas for the election manifesto, preferring instead to use warmongering to attract votes.
The matter has become a strong talking point for both the governing BJP and opposition parties, since ties between the two nuclear-armed nations of India and Pakistan became strained due to New Delhi’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on 5 August.