Kamarpara/Lohardaga: PM Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at his rivals over their prime ministerial ambitions, quipping that they were all decked up in “ghunghroos” — a string of bells worn by dancers on ankles. (”Sab ghungroo bandhke taiyar ho gaye hai.”)
Reacting to his comments, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “The remark was extremely shameful. He has been a chief minister for the longest time and has been the PM for the last five years. His petty statements are not in keeping with his position as the head of a country.
He is a 24×7 politician. Forget Congress, he should apologise to the entire nation.”The prime minister also had a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying that people who look into a mirror ten times a day and aspire to become prime minister cannot even win assembly constituencies in their Lok Sabha seat.
The veiled reference was to the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls when the BJP had won four of the five seats in Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, while the fifth had gone to the Samajwadi Party. Rahul is in the fray from Amethi for the fourth time and is pitted against Union minister Smriti Irani, who had lost to him in 2014.
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In an apparent jibe at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been claiming that she and her Trinamool Congress will play a crucial role in government formation after the general elections, Modi said even leaders whose parties are contesting 20-25 seats, want to become the prime minister.
Taking on the opposition for the criticism that he was seen more abroad than in the country during his tenure as the prime minister, Modi further said, hardly five years back India found it difficult to get its voice heard, but now the world stands with it.
“I read somewhere that Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has said this chaiwala was busy making foreign trips all these five years, but today India’s might is being acknowledged everywhere because of these visits,” he said while addressing an election rally here in Birbhum district.
He further said the Congress-led opposition, which has been “hurling abuse” at him, was now defaming the EVMs after realising the “trend” of three rounds of voting in the general elections, “just like a child, who makes excuses to justify hisunderperformance in exams”.