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Congress responds to PM Modi's ‘140 crore Indians’ remarks after Lalu Prasad's dig
Jairam Ramesh said if 140 crore Indians are PM Narendra Modi's family members, then why he did do injustice to them.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that 140 crore Indians are his family, saying the last decade of his rule has been “anyaay kaal” for his own family (the citizens) due to persisting issues like inflation, unemployment, economic instabilities, and polarisation.
The Congress general secretary said that if 140 crore Indians are PM Modi's family members, then why he did do injustice to them?
Read here: ‘Even a hair of PM Modi…’: Smriti Irani slams 'fodder thief' over ‘parivaar’ dig
"Even our priority is the people of our country. We are raising their voice against inflation, unemployment, economic instabilities, and polarisation. If 140 crore Indians are his family, why has he broken their trust, why has he done injustice to them? The last 10 years have been 'anyaay kaal' for his own family," Jairam Ramesh told news agency ANI.
Ramesh dubbed the prime minister as a marketing person who proclaims himself a Vishwaguru. He said that if a person demands respect, he needs to behave respectably.
"He is a democratically elected person, but his personality and his way of working is absolutely unjust. He sits there just for marketing, and rebranding, and is a self-proclaimed Vishwaguru. We respect the post of the Prime Minister but if a person demands respect, he needs to behave respectably," he added.
The Congress leader's remarks came after Modi launched a scathing attack on the INDIA bloc asserting that it has adopted a new strategy to criticise him, claiming that "Modi has no family".
Read here: BJP leaders change profile to‘Modi ka parivar’ on Lalu jibe
Modi said he left his home not for his own enjoyment but for the country. "I have left home not for myself but for the country. My family is this country, 140 crore countrymen. Jiska koi nahi wo bhi Modi Ke hai aur Modi unka hai. Mere Bharat mera Parivaar and that's why the entire country is saying today, "Main Hoon Modi ka a Parivaar..." Modi said replying to RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Lalu Prasad Yadav stoked a controversy by questioning the PM’s Hindu credentials and mocking him for not having a family of his own. “These days he (PM) is talking about dynastic politics. You (PM Modi) don’t have a family... You are not even a Hindu. When one’s mother dies, every Hindu, as per tradition, shaves his beard and head. Why did you not shave? You only spread hatred in society,” Lalu Prasad Yadav said at the party’s “Jan Vishwas Maha Rally” in Patna on Sunday.
Later, the BJP leaders including Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Smriti Irani, and Anurag Thakur further, appended “Modi ka parivaar” (Modi’s family) to their social media handles.
Read here: Nation first for me, it’s my family, says PM Modi
The campaign comes ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections and is a throwback to the BJP’s “main bhi chowkidar (I am also a watchman)” narrative in 2019 that was built to counter the Congress’s ”chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief) slogan.
