Kid vs neo Jinnah: Sambit Patra and Owaisi's war of words reaches new low

Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi have both chosen namecalling to be their best political weapon against each other.

New Delhi: BJP's Sambit Patra on Tuesday called AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi 'neo Jinnah' only to be termed as a 'kid who doesn't deserve attention in return.'

Patra fired the first salvo when he slammed Owaisi's recent call for Muslims to vote for Muslims. "In today's political scenario, I have no hesitation in saying that Mr Owaisi is the neo Jinnah. This tactic of instigating Muslims to break away from mainstream is a dangerous one and he is a repeat offender," Patra old mediapersons at a press conference. He was referring to Owaisi's comment on keeping secularism alive and for Muslims to unite and vote only for candidates from their own community.

While Patra took potshots at Owaisi, the counterattack was launched swiftly. "Sambit is a kid, don't speak about kids. When adults are speaking, kids should not interfere," said Owaisi who too held a press conference in which he was asked for his view on being termed 'neo Jinnah.'

The political discourse has steadily deteriorated in quality in recent times with name calling increasingly becoming as frequent as evoking caste and communities. While opposition parties have said BJP is guilty of holding Indian democracy hostage, the BJP has countered saying rivals are attempting to launch baseless malicious campaigns against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections next year.