PM slams Rahul’s ‘all Modis are thieves’ barb

Korba/Bhatapara (Chhattisgarh): Targeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the chief of the Grand Old Party had insulted an entire community with his “all Modis are thieves” remark.

Addressing a rally in Korba in Chhattisgarh, Mr Modi said, “They are saying whosoever has Modi in their names are thieves. What kind of politics is this? They have branded an entire community as thief that too only to get applause and to insult your chowkidar (watchman).”

Mr Modi’s statement was a response to Mr Gandhi’s earlier remark, “Why all the thieves have Modi in their names be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don’t know how many more such Modis will come out.”

On Tuesday, Mr Modi hit out at Mr Gandhi for using improper language. “This is the sultanate mentality which sees every exploited and neglected person as a slave. Today ‘naamdar’ is abusing Modi and tomorrow they will abuse tribals and later everyone else,” the Prime Minister, indirectly referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi as “naamdar” (dynast).

He said anyone challenging the “family” and “dynasty” faces abuse.

Mr Modi said surgical and air strikes against Pakistan and demonstration of India’s anti-satellite missile capability were all possible only because of the strength of people’s vote.

Mr Modi said the Congress used to term Naxals as “revolutionaries” which boosted morale of the Leftwing insurgents consequently leading to rise of Naxalism in the state.

He cited the recent killing of BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi along with four jawans by Naxals in Dantewada to drive his point home.

“There is a conspiracy to push the state into violence once again. People need to be aware of the design,” he cautioned.

Addressing a rally in Odisha’s Sambalpur, Mr Modi sounded quite aggressive against the BJD government and gave a call to party workers to work seriously for a change of leadership in the state.

Though the PM didn’t name BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik, he took a dig at the him saying people in the country now knew who patronised the chit fund scam and mining scam mafias in the state.

“For the last 20 years, you blindly trusted the BJD government that has given protection to chit fund scam and mining mafia and is also embroiled in PC (percentage commission) culture. Now it’s time to bring a change in the leadership… it’s time to eject the BJD government,” Mr Modi said while addressing the party’s Vijay Sankalp Samavesh.

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