NEW DELHI, Nov 21: Though “Panauti” (bad omen) had become a large scale use for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the social media following India’s defeat to Australia in the cricket World Cup final, its use by Rahul Gandhi provided an opportunity to the BJP to attack the Congress leader.
The BJP slammed Rahul Gandhi and brought up the “maut ka saudagar” remark made by his mother after the Congress leader appeared to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India’s loss in the final match.
There were insertions in the social media earlier that India was bowled out at a below par score as Modi arrived in Ahmedabad and Australia hit the winning stroke soon after Modi reached the stadium.
Addressing a rally in election-bound Rajasthan on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi made similar uses accusing PM Modi of trying to distract from the issues. “He comes on TV and says ‘Hindu-Muslim’ and sometimes goes to a cricket match… Our boys would have won the World Cup but the panauti (bad omen) lost us the match,” he said in Hindi.
In a tongue-lashing, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the former Congress president’s remarks about the Prime Minister were “shameful, condemnable and disgraceful.” The Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar also hit out at Mr Gandhi and said the comments were signs of desperation and mental instability.
In a post on X, Mr Chandrashekar said Rahul Gandhi was a 55-year-old who had never worked a day in his life, whose family had “exploited the country like parasites” and whose government had “destroyed the country economically.” “The reason is that PM @narendramodiji is a nightmare for the Crooks of Congress, for enemies of India and Terrorists. For all others, he is the world’s most popular political leader, whose experience, hard work and vision have transformed lives of people, grown our economy and earned respect all over India and the world – from Silicon Valley to our villages – from tech to farmers,” the post said.
“Rahul Gandhi must apologise…else we will make this issue very serious,” the BJP said, adding that the Congress leader has shown “his true colours as to what is your status and understanding.
(Manas Dasgupta)