'Who are we to look in the eye?' PM Modi's fitting reply to Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi: A hug from Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha on Friday hardly made any difference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the Congress president, during a debate on the Opposition-backed no-confidence motion against his government.
The stinging attack by the Prime Minister did not spare Rahul’s mother Sonia Gandhi either.
"In the morning, the voting was not over, the debate was also not over, one member comes running to me saying - Utho Utho Utho (get up, get up, get up). What is his hurry to come to power? Let me tell this member it is the people who elected us. That is how we have come here," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in what was seen as his indirect attack on Rahul Gandhi.
The Prime Minister also mimicked Rahul Gandhi's wink after the hug, using his hands, and chided him with the phrase: "Bachkani harkat (childish antics)".
Earlier on Friday, Rahul Gandhi had stunned everyone when he crossed the floor of the House and hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, declaring that he felt nothing but love for him.
Read: Watch: 'You may call me Pappu but I don't hate you,' Rahul hugs PM Modi
The Prime Minister had remained seated as he called Rahul Gandhi back, pulling him by his sleeve, said something to him and patted him.
Just before that gesture, Rahul Gandhi had launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal and also said: "You can't look me in the eye."
The Prime Minister ripped into that comment and every other dig that Rahul Gandhi made.
"Who are we to look you in the eye? I am from a humble family, you are ‘naamdaar’, we are ‘kaamdar’. We don't have the guts to look you in the eye," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his 90 minute speech.
"Look what happened to people who tried to look you in the eye. They were humiliated...Charan Singh, Sardar Patel, MorarjiDesai, Chandra Shekhar, Sharad Pawar..." PM Modi further added.
As he dwelt on the theme of Congress arrogance, he even reminded Sonia Gandhi of her famous comment in 1999, when the Congress moved a no-confidence motion against the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government: "We have 272 and more are coming."
Referring to the former Congress president's latest comment, on Friday's no-trust vote, he said: "I read in the newspaper, they said 'who said we don't have the numbers?' Such arrogance."
PM Modi also gave a fitting response to Rahul Gandhi on his "jumla strikes" and "bhagidar" (collaborator) and not a 'chowkidar (watchman)" comments.
"Yes, I am bhagidar, but not thekedar (middlemen) like you," he said.
He lashed out at Rahul Gandhi over his Rafale allegations, saying: "We must refrain from making childish statements on sensitive issues. There was an agreement between two responsible governments. Because of one careless allegation in the House on Rafale, two nations had to release statements."
After PM Modi's speech, the government was able to easily defeat the opposition-backed no-confidence motion 325-126. 451 members were present in the Lok Sabha and the half-way mark was 226.
