A riposte to Rahul Gandhi’s fiery speech in the Lower House, anecdotes, and a fresh assault calling the Congress party a “parasite”. That’s how Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into his political opponent in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, a day after Gandhi’s speech triggered a massive controversy.
The PM’s message: accept the mandate of the Lok Sabha elections and introspect, instead of claiming moral victory with just 99 of India’s 543 Lok Sabha seats in kitty. To drive his point home, he used data, relied at times on humour, issued sombre warnings in the same breath against what he called attempts to spread “anarchy” and misinformation, and also launched a direct attack on Gandhi.
He criticised what he called “balak buddhi [child-like intelligence]” of Gandhi without mentioning his name. “Yesterday, we saw childish behaviour in the House,” PM Modi continued, “Speaker sir…you endure everything with a smile, but something has to be done about yesterday [Monday’s speech by Gandhi]. Otherwise, it will not be good for Parliament…these attempts should not be ignored…There is a deeper conspiracy.”
PM Modi said the nation would want “strict action against these lies” spread by Gandhi, calling out the Congress leader’s statements on MSP for famers as well as the Agniveer scheme for military recruits. Parts of the speech by Gandhi, the Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition, were expunged later.
PM Modi also accused Gandhi of creating “drama for sympathy. “The Congress has made lies the weapon of its politics and they have tasted blood,” PM Modi said, alleging that the Opposition was spreading lies about the reliability of electronic voting machines, Rafale deal, and other reforms measures.
He then touched upon the 2024 election results. “It’s a first for the Congress,” PM Modi said, “…that they couldn’t touch 100 seats in three continuous elections.” In the bitterly fought polls, the PM’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 240 seats — 32 short of majority. But the National Democratic Alliance, of which the BJP is a part, won a comfortable majority with 293 seats, paving the way for a historic third term for PM Modi. The Congress and its allies claimed “moral victory” after an improved performance in comparison with their showing in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
In his speech, the Prime Minister shared an anecdote: that when a child falls from his bi-cyle, elders console him saying “you are a great cyclist” and “no big deal, it’s just an ant that has died in the fall”. Modi said the Congress and its ecosystem were now busy doing the consoling job. He continued with another anecdote: that a child was distributing sweets after getting 99 marks in an exam, but did not reveal that he got 99 out of 543, and not of 100. Then, there was another story: that a child came back from school crying because he was beaten up, but didn’t tell his worried mother that he was the one to steal tiffin from others.
Modi also addressed the political allies of the Congress, which he said flourishes at the expense of others. “Have they done any analysis? Now, from 2024, the Congress is a parasite party,” PM Modi said, adding most of the Congress seats were ‘gifted’ to them by their allies.
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