Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday took jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Khan Market gang’ comment, which he made in an interview with The Indian Express on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters after casting her vote, Priyanka said if the PM had done “tapasya for even 50 hours”, then he would not be speaking the language of hate today. Rahul said the PM was fighting the ongoing elections based on hatred and the Congress was fighting with love.
“Modi ki chhavi, Delhi ke Khan Market ke gang ne nahin banayi hai, Lutyens Delhi ne nahin banayi hai. 45 saal ki Modi ki tapasya ne chhavi banayi hai. Achchi hai ya buri hai (Modi’s image has not been created by the Khan Market gang, or Lutyens Delhi, but 45 years of his toil. good or bad). You cannot dismantle it. But Lutyens and the Khan Market gang created an image for a former Prime Minister, ‘Mr Clean, Mr Clean’; how did it end up? My image? That was the answer. It is your job to investigate and educate the people,” Modi had said in the interview.
“Agar pachas ghante ki tapasya karli hoti tho, is tarah se nafrat bari baaten nahin karte (Even if he had meditated for 50 hours, he would not be speaking this way),” said Priyanka, accusing him of avoiding any conversation on “real issues”.
“The people are suffering and are under distress. Modiji, instead of talking about real issues, has been talking about random things. And, now, they (people) will express their anger,” she said.
Rahul, on the other hand, said “this election is being fought basically on three-four issues… The most important among these is of unemployment. Then, plight of farmers, and demonetisation and Gabbar Singh Tax (mocking GST), which have destroyed the power of India and its economy.”
He parried a question on how many seats the Congress would win and instead said it has been a “good fight” and that the people would decide now.
