Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday mounted a scathing attack on Opposition leaders, especially targeting the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, without naming them, for making “false promises”.
“We did not give false slogans, but real development to people,” Modi said, while replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha.
Pro-poor measures
“Till five decades (ago), slogans of ‘garibi hatao’ (remove poverty) were heard and now 25 crore poor have come out of poverty,” he said, adding that till now the poor have received 4 crore houses.
“The one who has lived that kind of life knows what it means to have a house with a proper roof,” Modi said. “Pain of the poor, troubles of common man cannot be understood just like that; it requires passion and some just don’t have it,” he said, taking a swipe at the Opposition.
“We live by the spirit of the Constitution and do not resort to politics of poison,” he said. Taking a dig at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Modi said a PM who used to chant ‘21st century’ was so far from reality that he was unable to provide for the needs of the 20th century.
Attacking Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, “Today, some people are openly speaking the language of urban naxals. The things that urban naxals say (are being said). These people who speak the language of urban naxals, who declare war against the Indian State can neither understand the Constitution nor about the country’s unity.”
Though Modi did not name anyone, his remarks were an apparent reference to Gandhi’s comments last month that “we are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself”.
Veiled jabs
Meanwhile, Modi said that those who entertain themselves by getting photo sessions done in huts of the poor will find the talk about the poor in Parliament boring. “Those who walk around with Constitution in pockets, do they know how they forced Muslim women to live in hardship. We brought in the triple talaq law to give right to them,” Modi said.
In a veiled jibe at AAP convenor Kejriwal, Modi said some leaders focus on jacuzzi and stylish showers while his government’s focus of providing water to every household .
He also said that “some parties are like AAP-da for the future of the youth” as they promise various kinds of doles at the type of elections but never fulfil them. “Some government schemes saved lot of money, but we did not use it to build ‘Sheesh Mahal’,” Modi said.
