Modi’s voice is feebler than that of mouse: Rahul

STUNG BY repeated barbs of BJP leaders at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Fridaysaidthatprimeministernarendramodi’s voice was “feebler even than that of a mouse”.

“The voice of the Prime Minister, who has given the clarion call of Make in India, is not of a roaring lion, but feebler than that of even a mouse,” Rahul said at an election meeting in Mahsi Assembly constituency in Bahraich, which goes to polls on Monday.

Rahul’s retort came hours after BJP president Amit Shah, addressing a rally in Azamgarh, nearly 300 km away, mocked Rahul for “often asking” what the Modi government has done for the country. “Rahulbaba, the first thing that we have done is that we have given a PM who speaks. You had given a PM who did not speak for 10 years, and his voice was heard by (only) you and your mother (Congress president Sonia Gandhi),” Shah said.

Apparently peeved by the remark, Rahul asked, “What is the utility of these punchlines.”

Ridiculing the government’s Make in India campaign, he said almost everywhere items ‘Made in China’ are readily available. “Even my phone is made in China,” he said.

The Congress leader accused the PM of spitting communal venom and spreading hatred since the Samajwadi Party-congress alliance was forged. He also said, “PM Modi has been benevolent towards the rich and has waived their loans, but not the loans of farmers.” In an apparent reference to Modi’s “adopted son of UP” remark, Rahul said the PM might claim relationships wherever he wants “but relationships should not be confined to lip service.” “Prime Minister Modi made a film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge (promising achchhe din), but it later became Sholay (of Gabbar Singh fear) when notes were banned,” he said. “Not a single person accused of keeping black money has been jailed and 94 per cent of black money is still stashed away in foreign countries.”