The BJP on Friday accused the Congress of playing divisive politics and echoing Pakistan’s line when the nation needs to be “united behind the Prime Minister, the army and the people”, in a feeble defence of Narendra Modi’s film shoot that did not go beyond branding “anti-national” any criticism of the government.

“The country should be united, and not divided. Sadly, some political parties are resorting to petty politics at the expense of the country,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

Patra did not on his own raise the issue of the Prime Minister allegedly continuing with the shooting of a publicity film at Jim Corbett National Park well after the Pulwama terror strike had taken place on February 14, focusing instead on accusing the Congress of “weakening the country’s resolve” and “echoing Pakistan’s line”.

Asked about Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s tweet accusing Modi of continuing with the shoot for three hours after 40 CRPF personnel had been massacred in Pulwama, Patra said it was a “complete lie” and that law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had already responded.

Patra referred to the Centre’s announcement on Thursday that it would stop the flow of water from India to Pakistan and slammed the Congress for criticising it.

“After the government announced that India’s water will not go to Pakistan and it will be diverted in India only, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor tweeted and spoke against the country. This is very sad,” Patra said.

A fact check had revealed that India had said the same about water-sharing after the Uri attack in 2016. The decision to build the dam, which will keep unutilised water from three rivers from flowing into Pakistan, was taken much before the Pulwama attack — a fact that Tewari pointed out in his tweet that Patra criticised.

Patra also targeted Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for questioning the timing of the Pulwama attack. “Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee came up with statements like how did the attack take place right after the parliamentary session got over and who encouraged Pakistan to attack India. Such statements are highly unfortunate,” he said.

The BJP spokesperson claimed that the tweets of Opposition party leaders were being shown on Pakistani news channels and used to justify the country’s position on the Pulwama attack.

On Twitter, the BJP responded to Rahul’s tweet about the photo shoot with this post: “Rahul Ji, India is tired of your fake news. Stop sharing photos from that morning to shamelessly mislead the nation. Maybe you knew in advance of the attack but people of India got to know in the evening.”

In response, other tweeters promptly posted pictures of Modi smiling and waving at crowds from his car after sunset on February 14.