Rahul’s hugplomacy fails in the wink of an eye?
new delhi — Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi created a flutter in parliament on Friday, giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a surprise hug during a heated debate and said he had nothing but love for his bitter political foe.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has repeatedly targeted Gandhi, as a “failed dynast” out of touch with ordinary people and ill-suited for public life.
But Gandhi, who is girding up for national elections next year, said his politics were above hate and that he bore no personal rancour towards Modi who has also targeted the young leader in the past.
Soon after closing a speech tearing into Modi’s four years in office, Gandhi strode across the floor and put his arms awkwardly around the seated prime minister in a rare gesture that caught Modi unawares.
“You have anger against me, you can call me names, you can abuse me, but I don’t have a speck of hatred against you. I will take out this hatred out of you and turn it into love,” Gandhi said as lawmakers thumped their desks and others looked on.
He was speaking on a no-confidence motion against Modi that the government is certain to defeat because of its majority in parliament, but which the opposition hopes will focus attention on the government’s failures in office.
Modi, startled by Gandhi’s gesture, froze in his seat in an image that was repeatedly played on television screens across the country and went viral on social media. Modi later called back Gandhi to his seat and shook hands, smiling. He patted Gandhi on his back and exchanged a word or two with him.
“What an astonishing performance by @RahulGandhi,” said Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a Twitter post. “It was a game-changing speech, tearing apart the Govt’s claims & ending with that unscripted hug that has literally taken the BJP’s breath away.”
However, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan expressed her displeasure over Gandhi’s hugging Modi inside Lok Sabha, saying the gesture diminished the decorum of the House.
“Even I did not like it. There is a decorum (that we attach) to the Prime Minister’s post. Inside the House, sitting in that seat, he is not Narendra Modi but the Prime Minister of India,” she said.
The Speaker’s observation came soon after the Lok Sabha was reconvened after a brief adjournment during Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s speech.
Resuming his speech, Rajnath Singh said that some people had started the “chipko (hug) movement” inside the House.
Taking a cue from this, Mahajan intervened saying even she did not like what Rahul Gandhi had done.
“You (Congress members) might have liked it but I did not. And especially the way he (Rahul Gandhi) winked after hugging the Prime Minister,” she said, adding: “It is upto us to maintain the decorum of this House.” Mahajan said that Gandhi was like her son but she also deemed it her duty as a mother to polish his manners and etiquette. —
In the morning, the voting was not over, the debate was also not over, one member came runnig to me saying -Utho Utho Utho... What is his hurry to come to power. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister