PM lashes out at ‘juvenile' Gandhi

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday witnessed unprecedented din on the Opposition benches marred by incessant sloganeering, a prime minister who ignored the cacophony and went on relentlessly, dwelling on what he dubbed were Rahul's juvenile outpourings, even as a visibly livid Speaker tried to restrain an unbridled opposition.

- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Ignoring the commotion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Congress and the INDIA bloc for having a divisive agenda and harped on its failure to win the Lok Sabha elections despite recourse to lies and a false narrative. In his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address to both Houses of Parliament, PM Modi specifically attacked Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for churning out "lies" about the Agniveer scheme and minimum support price.

Winding up the two-day discussion, Modi charged that the Congress was brazenly "arrogant," even though it had not been able to cross the threshold of 100 seats for the third consecutive time. In zest, he likened Gandhi to a child who celebrated his 99 marks, even though those were secured not out of 100 but out of 543.

Modi said "instead of conceding defeat", the Congress was "trying to build a narrative that they have beaten us." He bemoaned this spurious "celebration of victory" and even called the Congress a "parasite," saying it cannot win without the support of its allies. He also attacked the Congress for seeking to divide the people on the lines of language and geography.