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Journalism of Courage
A day after PM Narendra Modi took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi by claiming that his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was ‘Bhrashtachari No. 1 (corrupt number 1)’, the Congress president hit back saying “the battle is over. Your Karma awaits you.”
“…Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself onto my father won’t protect you. All my love and a huge hug,” Gandhi tweeted on Sunday.
And Uttar Pradesh East General Secretary and Rajiv Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi called Modi’s remarks an “insult to the martyrdom” of the former PM.
“The prime minister who seeks votes in the name of martyrs insulted the martyrdom of a righteous and holy man,” she tweeted. She also added that the people of Amethi will respond to his remarks. “This country never forgives the cheaters,” she added.
In an apparent reference to the Bofors scam in which Rajiv Gandhi was accused of receiving kickbacks from Swedish defence manufacturer Bofors, Modi in a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh said, “Your father (Rahul Gandhi’s father) was termed ‘Mr Clean’ by his courtiers, but his life ended as ‘Bhrashtachari No. 1 (corrupt number 1)’.” He also accused the Congress of harping on the acquisition of Rafale aircraft only to tarnish his image.
Former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram said the prime minister has “crossed all limits of decency” with the ‘Bhrashtachari No. 1′ remark. Reminding PM Modi of a Delhi High Court order, Chidambaram said, “Does Mr Modi read anything at all? Does he know that the charge against Mr Rajiv Gandhi was thrown out by the High Court, Delhi as “completely baseless? Does Mr Modi know that a BJP government decided not to file an appeal to the SC against the HC judgment?”
Read | Rahul Gandhi’s interview
The Congress and other opposition parties have repeatedly attacked the Narendra Modi government claiming that they reworked the Rafale deal at a much higher price than the UPA government and that it awarded Rs. 30,000-crore offset contract to industrialist Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence, instead of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautical Limited.
