Kailash Vijayvargiya called certain labourers Bangladeshis because they were eating poha.
A man is known by the company he keeps, it is still taught in schools. But after Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently suggested that a man is known by the clothes he wears, his party colleague Kailash Vijayvargiya has now gone and declared that a man is known by the food he eats.
If it is the popular poha or chiwra or chirey or flattened rice, the people eating it have to be Bangladeshis, and if sitting in Indore, they must be infiltrators or possible terrorists. And with that, Mr Vijayvargiya turned the humble poha into an Internet-breaking hashtag.
At a seminar in Indore today, the BJP general secretary said: "There is some construction work going on at home. Outside, I saw some six-seven labourers sitting with one thali piled up with a huge amount of poha -- maybe 10 plates -- and eating. I asked, why are you eating poha? They did not answer because they could not speak Hindi. Then one man said they are Bengalis. I suspected something. I asked why they had been hired here. The answer was, they are cheap labour."
That was not all. When Mr Vijayvargiya said he suspected something, he meant it. "You will be surprised to know that there is a Bangladeshi terrorist who has been watching me for 1.5 years. Now I have to go around with an armed guard," the BJP leader said.
Twitter found his observations hilarious.
"Learnt two things about food in the last few days: 1. Halwa is auspicious 2. Poha is suspicious," tweeted one such social media user, identified only as Punster.
Another expressed regret over poha also becoming "anti-national".
"Hum poha bhi khayenge, aur kagaj nahi dikhayenge," tweeted Twitter user Jagat Limba, combining the issue with the oft-quoted slogan against the National Register of Citizens to pick on Mr Vijayvargiya.
The most circulated tweets were magazine and newspaper clippings on how both PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah enjoy poha.
Poha, a dish made of flattened rice, forms a staple diet for a large part of northern India. It is, in particular, a favourite with all sections of the society because it fulfils three major conditions: it is easy to make, filling and -- more importantly -- inexpensive.