India’s abysmal ranking on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) sparked fireworks involving the principal Opposition Congress and the ruling BJP on Twitter on Saturday.

As Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi went poetic while taking on the Narendra Modi dispensation on the issue, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani hit back at Rahul while also resorting to verses to settle scores on Saturday.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)’s 2017 report, India has a “serious” hunger problem and ranks 100th out of 119 countries on the GHI~ behind North Korea, Bangladesh and Iraq but ahead of Pakistan.

Tagging a news report in this regard, Rahul tweeted a couplet by noted Hindi poet Dushyant Kumar that read : “Bhookh hai to sabr kar, roti nahi to kya hua / Aajkal Dilli mein hai zer-e-behas yeh mudda.”

Rahul also tweeted its translation in English that stated, “If you are hungry, be patient! / So what if you have no bread? / Hunger is a hot topic, these days / Of debate in the Delhi Durbar!”

Training her guns on Rahul, Smriti tweeted, “Not surprising that in his keenness to run down Hon PM, Rahul Gandhi maligns the Nation,” tagging a statement by Health Minister J P Nadda that said, “Facts vs Fiction on Global Hunger Index to enlighten people who are keen to run down our country by twisting facts.”

She then also went poetic, firing away a couplet at Rahul that stated, “Ae satta ki bhookh, sabr kar, aankde sath nahi to kya, / Khudgarzon ko jama kar, mulk ki badnami ka shor toh macha hi lenge (Hey hunger for power, have patience, what if you don’t have the figures,/ You can collect selfish people, at least noise could be made to malign the country).”

According to the IFPRI report, India’s serious hunger level is driven by high child malnutrition that underlines need for stronger commitment to the social sector. India reportedly stood at 97th position in last year’s GHI rankings.

In this year’s GHI rankings, India has the third highest score in all of Asia, and only Afghanistan and Pakistan are ranked worse, the IFPRI report said.