BJP legislator from Telangana, Raja Singh, dedicates a song to the Indian Army
A Twitter duel has broken out between a BJP legislator from Telangana and the spokesperson of the Pakistani armed forces over a self-composed song by the politician, which the Pakistani officer claimed was plagiarised from them.
Raja Singh -- the BJP legislator from Goshamahal in Telangana -- has denied the allegation by Major General Asif Ghafoor, saying that he would never copy anything from a "terrorist state like Pakistan".
Mr Singh, who goes by the "TigerRajaSingh" handle on Twitter and features a cover photo that says "Let us establish Hindu Rashtra", had posted a song dedicated to the Indian Army. In the over-a-minute-long clip posted on his page, the politician can be seen standing in front of a microphone inside a soundproof room -- clutching a sheaf of papers with lyrics written on them. "...Hindustan zindabad," he sings to a disco tune, slightly thumping his legs and waving his hand -- his fist closed firmly.
The BJP leader posted the promo clip on April 12 as a sneak peek to the full song, which he released on April 14.
It was soon noticed in the neighbouring country, with many people on Twitter claiming that the song by Mr Singh was a plagiarised form of a Pakistani song that celebrated its military, which was released on March 23 for Pakistan Day.
"Glad that you copied. But copy to speak the truth as well," Major General Ghafoor tweeted from his personal account.
"Good to see even Pakistan media is covering my song Hindustan Zindabad," Mr Singh retorted.
This drew another reply from the Pakistani officer. "Pakistani media isn't covering the 'so-called' song. In rest of the world, this is called something else... Second sentence of previous tweet i.e. 'But copy to speak the truth as well' stays valid as expected. This lie too not a surprise. That's what was said, we can't be surprised," he said.
It was in response to this that the BJP leader issued his most cutting tweet. "#Pakistani singers may have copied my song, we don't have to copy anything from a terrorist state like Pakistan," he said.
On his official website, Mr Singh describes himself as "very popular on social media". "He currently has many followers around the world. He addresses them regularly through his YouTube videos," the politician says of himself on his website.