Amit Malviya, a BJP leader and social media chief, accused Rahul Gandhi’s supposed friend of anti-India beliefs and asked why Rahul Gandhi has ties with “only those who are challenging India’s territorial integrity” a day after posting the video of Rahul Gandhi partying at a nightclub in Nepal.

The BJP and the Congress have exchanged barbs over Rahul Gandhi’s video, with the Congress spokesperson clarifying that the Congressman was in Nepal for a private wedding function of a friend who also happened to be a journalist. “Rahul Gandhi did not go to Pakistan as an uninvited guest, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi did to celebrate the birthday and cut cakes for then-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Rahul Gandhi has travelled to Nepal, a friendly country, to attend a friend’s private wedding. By coincidence, the friend is also a journalist “According to the Congressman,

“Having a family and friends in this country, as well as attending weddings and engagement ceremonies, are all part of our culture and civilisation, as far as I’m concerned. Being married, being friends with someone, or attending their wedding celebration has not yet become a crime in this country. Perhaps after today, Prime Minister Modi or the BJP will rule that attending a wedding is illegal. They may argue that having friends or attending family functions is a crime “he stated

Rahul Gandhi was in Nepal to attend the wedding of CNN journalist Sumnima Udas, according to the Kathmandu Post. Sumnima is the daughter of Bhim Udas, Nepal’s former ambassador to Myanmar.

Amit Malviya said Rahul Gandhi’s friend actively supports “Nepal’s claim over regions of India’s Uttarakhand,” referring to a tweet from Sumnima Udas from 2020, in which she wrote that Nepal should have issued a new map decades ago.

Fake claims were made as soon as Rahul Gandhi’s video went viral, claiming that the woman with whom he was seen in the video was a Chinese diplomat.

Shashi Tharoor, a Congress member, responded to a fake news story on Wednesday by tweeting, “On social media, we need a fact-checking culture. Would Twitter and Facebook consider tying fact-checks like this to every time the fake news surfaced or was repeated? I’ve been a victim of a lot of misinformation as a result of blatant photoshops going viral.”

Sumnima Udas allegedly married Nima Martin Sherpa, a Chinese businesswoman, according to social media users.