Akhnoor/Rudrapur: Launching his poll campaign in three states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday ripped into the opposition parties by coining a word ‘SARAB (alcohol’) to describe their alliance. SARAB, it turns out, is an acronym of the initial letter of the three parties — the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Then followed Modi’s medical advisory, asking people to “stay away from ‘SARAB’ during the polls for the good health of Uttar Pradesh.” ‘Sharab’ is the Hindi word for liquor. A furious Congress demanded an apology while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav accused PM
Modi of spreading “intoxicating hatred”, saying that he didn’t know the difference between ‘sharab’ and ‘sarab’ (mirage).
Unfazed, the PM further said the contest this time will be between “dumdaar’’ BJP and a ‘‘daagdaar’’ opposition. On a day strewn with rich idiomatic expressions
PM Modi also played on the words ‘saboot’ and ‘sapoot’, the Hindi words for proof and a good son, to attack the opposition for seeking evidence of surgical strikes. “Do we need ‘saboot’ or sapoot… those who seek evidence are challenging the sapoot,” he said, much to the delight of his audience