Stung by repeated barbs by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders at former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the voice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "feebler even than that of a mouse".
"The voice of PM, who has given the clarion call of Make in India, is not of a roaring lion, but even feebler than that of a mouse," Gandhi told an election meeting in Mahsi Assembly constituency that goes to polls on February 27.
His retort came hours after BJP President Amit Shah at a rally in Azamgarh, nearly 300 kms away, mocked Gandhi for "often asking" as to what the Modi government has done for the country.
"Rahul Baba, 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 you and your mother (Congress president Sonia Gandhi)," Shah had said.
Peeved over the remark, Gandhi questioned, "What is the utility of these punchlines?"
Ridiculing Modi'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 SP-Congress alliance was forged.
Gandhi 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 the PM's "adopted son of UP" remark, Gandhi said Modi might claim relationships wherever he wants "but relationships should not be confined to lip service".
"PM 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," he added.