When Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, took on Rahul Gandhi’s Wednesday attack in Parliament, he peeled down one allegation after another. But he did not answer all the questions raised by the Congress Vice-President.
Calling it the ‘Budget Fair and Lovely Scheme: How to Turn Black Money to White Money’, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the BJP and the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha over black money on Wednesday.
But in his 75-minute-long speech, not once did Modi talk about the issue of black money.
PM Modi chose not to respond to Rahul’s allegation that the “PM hasn’t spoken to Vemula’s family even once.”
Rahul Gandhi had criticised Modi’s silence in the aftermath of Rohith Vemula’s death and JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar’s arrest.
Rahul had also accused the Prime Minister of not listening to his own MPs and Cabinet.
But ironically, the allegation is more reminiscent of the Congress slogan during the infamous Emergency period, when prompted by DK Baruah, a veteran Congress leader, “Indira is India and India is Indira” gained prominence.
Rahul also alleged that PM Modi had slammed MNREGA, yet the Budget somehow suddenly became all about MNREGA.
Responding to Congress’ contention that MNREGA was the brainchild of the previous UPA government and that the NDA regime had repackaged and usurped it, Modi said such a programme had first been initiated in Maharashtra in 1972.
Rahul spoke of how “Modi disrespected the country by listening to no one but himself” with regards to his sudden Pakistan visit, and the now scuttled Naga Accord “gone with the wind.”
While hitting out at Rahul for criticising his government, Modi sarcastically recalled how the Congress Vice President had torn at a press conference an Ordinance approved by the Cabinet headed by Manmohan Singh and including veterans like A K Antony, Sharad Pawar and Farooq Abdullah.
But Modi ducked the Naga accord charges.
Modi also took on Rahul for mocking at the government’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ programme, questioning whether such a scheme should be made fun of. He said:
Rahul had said: It is Gandhi versus Savarkar, it is ahimsa versus violence. Modi chose to not visit that issue.
The PMO’s Twitter account repeated Modi’s appeal in Parliament.
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