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  India   All India  04 Dec 2018  PM Narendra Modi counters Rahul’s Hinduism jibe

PM Narendra Modi counters Rahul’s Hinduism jibe

AGE CORRESPONDENT WITH AGENCY INPUTS
Published : Dec 4, 2018, 1:23 am IST
Updated : Dec 4, 2018, 1:23 am IST

Modi targets Nehru too for ignoring farmers’ issues.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: ANI)
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: ANI)

Jodhpur/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a stinging attack against the Congress for questioning his knowledge on Hinduism and targeted Rahul Gandhi using the dynast-worker analogy to ask the Opposition party from where it had got its expertise on religion. He also mocked at the Congress for focusing more on religion than development.

The Congress hit back by taking a swipe at Mr Modi for the religion-deve-lopment comment by saying that the Prime Minis-ter should also turn his attention to those in his party who talk of things other than developmental issues. He also blamed the Modi government for agrarian distress and corruption.

Mr Gandhi had recently said in Udaipur that the”Prime Minister says he is a Hindu, but he doesn’t understand (the) foundation of Hinduism. What kind of a Hindu is he?”

Referring to Mr Gandhi’s statement, Mr Modi, at an election rally in Jodhpur, asked people if they would cast their vote on the basis of knowledge of religion or on the basis of development of state.

In a sarcastic jibe, Mr Modi said that he is a small “kaamdar” (worker) who never claimed to have full knowledge of Hinduism but the “naamdar” (dynast) has the right to speak. The Prime Minister often refers to the Congress president as “naamdar”.

 “Even the saints have never claimed that they know everything about Hinduism and Hindutva. This is such a mammoth subject that it is not possible for any human to acquire that knowledge. I can never claim to possess this knowledge, I am a Nehru and saying that the leader who wore a rose knew about gardens but not farmers or farming.

“He (Nehru) used to wear rose and had the knowledge of gardens but did not know about farmers or farming, due to which the community faced hardship,” Mr Modi said without naming the first Prime Minister.

The Congress, Mr Modi alleged, has become a university for spreading lies. People who lie more get new posts in the party, he said, adding that Rahul Gandhi has great capacity for speaking lies.

Asking voters to back the ruling BJP in the December 7 Assembly polls, Mr Modi said, “The Congress’ dreams have been crushed in all states. This will happen in Rajasthan also.”

The Opposition party thinks it can come to power because of the trend in Rajasthan of alternate parties forming government but this will be proved wrong, Mr Modi declared.

At a rally in Telangana’ Gadwal, Mr Gandhi trained his guns on the Prime Minister and alleged that Mr Modi, TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi were “one” and urged the people to not be “fooled” by them.

He also attacked the Prime Minister over the issue of agrarian distress, saying he was making “two Hindustans” one for rich industrialists like Anil Ambani and the other for poor farmers who are struggling for survival.

He tweeted, “Modiji is making two Hindustans. One is the Hindustan for Anil Ambani — who without doing anything, without making an airplane, will get the Rafale contract worth Rs 30,000 crore from Modiji. The second is the Hindustan for farmers — whose 750 kg of onion grown after four months of toil will get only Rs 1.040 from Modiji.”

He cited a media report which claimed that for 750 kg of onion, a farmer was given Rs 1,040 in Maharashtra.

The Congress has been attacking the Modi government over issues concerning the farmers, alleging that the government’s policies have left them in distress. The Congress and has also launched an offensive on the Modi government, alleging corruption and favouritism in the deal for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France’s Dassault Aviation, a charge the government has strongly denied.

Mr  Gandhi accused Telangana caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of surrendering to the BJP. He added, “ KCR does not criticize the Prime Minister as he is scared that if he does so his corruption will be exposed. He is being remote controlled by Modi.”  He further went on the add that there was no protest on critical issues by the TRS leadership like demonetisation, roll out of GST and the issue of procurement of Rafale fighter jets.

Congress’ spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, at a press conference, said he was very happy to hear the Prime Minister’s statement giving priority to development issues over religious matter, but it would be better if Mr Modi also turns his attention to those in his party who talks of things other than development.

“How did you suddenly remember ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’, by making others give statements, why do you want to dissociate yourself? Who believes in this good cop, bad cop theory?” Mr Singhvi said.

The Telangana Assembly goes to polls on December 7 and the results will be declared on December 11.

Tags: prime minister narendra modi, rahul gandhi