While AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Friday reminded PM Narendra Modi of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee’s advice to follow “raj dharma”, the Congress asked why Mr Modi did not speak on the i
While AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Friday reminded PM Narendra Modi of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee’s advice to follow “raj dharma”, the Congress asked why Mr Modi did not speak on the issues raised by Rahul Gandhi in the LS.
“Modiji ne Rajiv Gandhi, Somnath Chatterjee ko yaad kiya. Thoda Atalji ko bhi yaad kar lete jinhone raj dharma samjhaya tha,” Mr Singh said. Mr Vajpayee had advised Mr Modi about “raj dharma” after the Gujarat riots in 2002.
On the release of JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Mr Singh said: “Kanhaiya has emerged as an icon among students. Thank you Delhi police and Rajnathji.”
Meanwhile, addressing a press meet, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that Mr Modi “selectively and mischievously” quoted Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi during his speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and hoped that he learns from those speeches that entail an inclusive, compassionate tolerant and people-centric India. While describing Mr Modi as being in the grip of “Rahul phobia”, he said the PM has made a “mockery of democracy” by making “petty-minded jibes” in his political speech on the President’s address in Parliament, something never done in the past.
He said that the PM’s speech was “devoid of substance” as he lost the opportunity of clearing the doubts of people that were raised through questions posed by the Congress and Mr Gandhi, which he never answered.
“Prime Minister Modi seems to be in the grip of what I can describe as ‘Rahul phobia’. It is an acute disease. It has now attained the size of an epidemic as far as the BJP and the PM are concerned.”
Mr Singhvi said merely because the Congress vice-president raises genuine concerns, as many as three senior ministers jumped in to deflect the questions asked to Mr Modi.
“All that the Prime Minister did, in a speech devoid of substance, was that petty pointless attacking on Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party and the legacy of the Congress... We reject the reply of the Prime Minister as being misleading and giving no real answers,” he said.
Mr Singhvi said there have been many Prime Ministers, many political parties in power, there have been many acrimonious elections and there have been less acrimonious elections, but President’s addresses or responses to them are not the occasion to give this kind of a petty political speeches.
“We are forced to say that the Prime Minister has yet again lost the opportunity to give substantive answers, to clear and assuage the genuine doubts of the people.
“The questions raised by Congress and by Rahul Gandhi are pointed questions of legitimate public concern and legitimate public interest and they stretch in the length and breadth of India,” he said.
