Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to turn the Congress into a dartboard as he rose to reply to a discussion on the President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to Parliament.
In his speech, PM Modi countered the opposition criticism over the amended citizenship law, attributed the string of decisions taken by his government after returning to power last year to its determination to work hard and fast to improve the lives of people and urged the opposition to work with the government for the sake of the country.
But he also lost no opportunity to take potshots at the opposition, primarily the Congress and its leaders Rahul Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. His opening remark was the first barb. As soon as he stood up to reply to the discussion, BJP members welcomed him by raising slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to which Congress responded by ‘Mahatma Gandhi Zindabad’ and ‘Mahatma Gandhi Amar Rahe’. It didn’t, however, continue for long and PM Modi remarked: “Bas itna hi? Aur kuch hai? (Is that all? Is there more?)”.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha promptly got up to say that this was only the trailer and there would be more. The prime minister didn’t let it pass and promptly responded: “Mahatma Gandhi might be a trailer for you, [but] for us, Gandhiji is our life).”
The next one came soon enough, aimed at Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who had been rising from his seat to object to what he was saying. When Chowdhury stood up again and was gesticulating, the prime minister turned to youth and sports minister Kiren Rijiju, saying that he wanted to congratulate him. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the prime minister said, did campaign for the Fit India campaign when he spoke. “He delivers his speeches and along with it, gyms (exercises) also… I thank him (Chowdhury) for campaigning for Fit India,” PM Modi said.
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