War of words between Rahul, PM heats up Rajasthan
In every address, he (PM) says Bharat Mata Ki Jai and works for Anil Ambani. He should begin his address by saying Anil Ambani ki Jai, Mehul Choksi ki Jai
— RAHUL GANDHI,
Congress president
Jaipur, Dec. 4: ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ was once again dragged into political discourse with Rahul Gandhi Tuesday taking a swipe at Narendra Modi, saying he should not use this salutation in his poll speeches but instead hail Anil Ambani, remarks that led the prime minister to hit back at the Congress chief asking who is he to issue a ‘fatwa’.
In a sharp riposte hours after Gandhi said Modi should chant “‘Anil Ambani ki Jai’, ‘Nirav Modi ki Jai’ .... ”, the prime minister asserted he would utter ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ ten times in the presence of lakhs of people. As the poll campaign for the Assembly polls in Rajasthan reached a crescendo, Gandhi said the prime minister says ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ in all his addresses, but works for industrialist Anil Ambani.
“In every address, he (PM) says Bharat Mata Ki Jai and works for Anil Ambani. He should begin his address by saying ‘Anil Ambani ki Jai’, ‘Mehul Choksi ki Jai’, ‘Nirav Modi ki Jai’, ‘Lalit Modi ki Jai’,” he told a poll rally in Alwar.
Voting will take place on December 7. Referring to the term ‘Bharat Mata’, Gandhi said it meant the “entire country, farmers, sentiments of crores of youths, women labourers”.
“If you talk about ‘Bharat Mata’, how can you forget about farmers?” he asked, adding bad debt worth `3.5 lakh crore was and written off, but not a single rupee of farmers was waived off by the Modi government.
Modi latched on to Gandhi’s barb while addressing a rally in Sikar district. “Congress has a ‘naamdar’. That naamdar issued a ‘fatwa’(decree) today that Modiji should not start addressing election rallies with ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. And therefore, I, today in the presence of lakhs of people here, I crushed his fatwa and said Bharat Mata ki Jai ten times,” Modi said.
“You (Gandhi) should be ashamed for this. Freedom fighters embraced death by saying ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.
Our soldiers carry out surgical strikes and say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. You are insulting Bharat Mata,” he added. Modi often refers to Gandhi as “naamdar” (dynast). The prime minister also took a dig at Gandhi over issues relating to farmers. “The naamdar does not know the difference between red and green chillies,” he alleged at another rally in Hanumangarh.