2 days ago
6
NEW DELHI: In his first speech as the leader of opposition,
Rahul Gandhi
spared none in
Lok Sabha
, with targets of his combative charge being
PM Narendra Modi
,
Amit Shah
, Rajnath Singh, and even Speaker Om Birla.
Urging "fairness" in the House, Rahul recalled he along with Modi had walked Birla to the Chair on his election as Speaker last week. Addressing Birla, he said "you" were straight when you shook hands with "me", but you bowed when you shook PM's hand.
A shocked Shah alleged Rahul was levelling allegations against the Chair. When Birla clarified it was "his culture" to bow to elders (Modi) and be equal with contemporaries, Rahul shot back that "nobody is above Speaker" and all should bow to the Speaker. "We are subservient to the Speaker. Some may feel they are not," he said.
Rahul was particularly acerbic on Modi, whom he repeatedly teased as "non biological" - we all are born and we die, but "parmatma" speaks to "atma" of Modi. He laughed that Modi had claimed that Mahatma Gandhi was dead and was revived by a movie. It was a reference to Modi's claim in an interview that he was "non biological" and messenger of the divine. He mocked that demonetisation and order to give Mumbai airport to Adani were also God's messages.
Rahul said SP's Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad told him that Modi commissioned three surveys with the idea of contesting from "Ayodhya", but his surveyors told him that he would lose. He then went to Varanasi, and barely escaped defeat.
To demonstrate his point about "abhay mudra" and religions preaching fearlessness, Rahul showed pictures of Lord Shiva, an Islamic motif, Jesus Christ, Guru Nanak, Mahatma Buddha and Mahaveer. When he picked Shiva's photo again, he pointed to the giant screens in the House and complained that the camera was not on him, an echo of an old complaint. The cameras returned to him, but when he picked the photo again, the focus went back to the Chair. It led to laughter in the House.
Poking fun, Rahul said Modi not only spreads fear outside but has also intimidated the BJP functionaries, pointing out that Rajnath who had earlier greeted him with a smile was now sitting seriously in the PM's presence. Then, Rahul lectured BJP on "internal democracy", stating that opposition parties have it, even mentioning Congress' ginger group - "G-22, G-23".
When Shah made a stray quip to his account of a Gujarat trip, Rahul said, "I keep going to Gujarat, and this time we will defeat you there. Take it in writing, INDIA will defeat you."
Once, Shah objected to Rahul alleging that BJP had called farmers "terrorists". But Rahul pointed to Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Badal, and said "your ally is nodding, she also agrees with us."
English (US) ·