In an apparent attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday, 23 November, said the atmosphere in the country was such that people had to either support “a person” or risk being called “anti-national”.
Sinha in an address at a book launch event in the capital, also made fun of ministers in the Modi government, calling them a “bunch of sycophants” and said 90 percent of them were hardly known to people.
It (the government) is a bunch of sycophants. Ninety percent of ministers are those who you (people) don’t know. They are here not to do something creative or constructive.... they are just busy saving their jobs.Shatrughan Sinha
The actor-politician also targeted the dispensations running the government and the party organisation, calling them a “one-man army” and a “two-man show”, a barb apparently aimed at Modi and Amit Shah.
The outspoken Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib said he joined politics after being inspired by socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan.
“I did not join politics saying ‘na jeeoonga na jeene doonga’ (neither will I live, nor allow others to live),” in an apparent parody of Modi’s anti-graft slogan ‘na khaoonga, na khane doonga’ (won’t take bribe, will not let others).
He once again took a swipe at those criticising him for speaking on economic decisions of the government like demonetisation and the GST.
“If a lawyer can become finance minister, a TV actress can become HRD minister and a tea-seller..., then why cannot I speak on these issues,” he said, apparently targeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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