New Delhi, Jun 21 (IANS): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday faced a barrage of criticism from BJP and its allies after he misspelt 'surrender' word as 'surrender' in his tweet, called the Prime Minister "Surender Modi".

Following Rahul Gandhi's tweet that read "Narendra Modi is actually Surender Modi", former Congressmen and Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his "exasperation" had made him commit the (spelling) mistake. "Surrendering has been the hallmark of the Gandhi-Nehru family," the BJP leader said in reference to the 1962 India-China war.

BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal's leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa also hit back, calling him 'Chinese Gandhi'.

BJP's social media chief Amit Malviya resurrected the Bofors scam to embarrass Gandhi. "He earlier tried to salvage his father's Bofors legacy by questioning the Rafale deal," remarked Malviya.

He said that the constant attack on Modi by Rahul Gandhi was nothing but "an effort to whitewash the sins of Nehru", alleging it was independent India's first Prime Minister and Gandhi's great-grandfather who ceded a chunk of Indian territory to China.

A BJP Minister in Karnataka reminded the Congress leader that 'in Hinduism, 'Surender' or 'Surendra' refers to the 'lord of gods'.