Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he indeed could not see eye to eye with the Congress leadership as he was not a “naamdar” (from a privileged background) like the Congress chief.
He said that there was long list of people who tried to see eye to eye with the “first family” and were “humiliated” as a result, including former President Pranab Mukherjee.
“He (Rahul) says I cannot see eye to eye with him. Yes, I cannot do so because I am not a naamdar. I come from a poor background, I am not privileged like you,” Modi said while replying to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition.
“It is widely known what happened to those who tried to see eye to eye with you. What happened to Chadhary Charan Singh, to Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujaral. What happened to Sharad Pawar and even to Pranab Mukherjee?
Read | Rahul Gandhi hugs Modi, says call me Pappu but I won’t hate you
“In the past too, those who tried to see eye to eye with you their fate was no different be it Sardar Patel or Subhash Chandra Bose. They were all thrown out, they were humiliated. I cannot see eye to eye with you,” Modi said.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi had said that Modi could not see eye to eye with him (for his alleged failure to fulfil his promises made to the public).
“And it was seen by the people what your eyes said today,” Modi said, blinking his fingers to portray Gandhi’s winking gesture.
At the end of his around 40-minute speech, Gandhi walked across to the treasury benches and hugged Modi who was surprised. Gandhi then returned to his seat amid applause from Congress MPs, and then winked at fellow Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia who was sitting next to him.
Modi said that the Congress was so power hungry that it had pulled the rug off the feet of any non-Congress government whenever any attempt to form such a government was made.
“What did the Congress do with governments of Charan Singh, of Chandra Shekhar and of I.K. Gujral? It pushed the country into phases of instability again and again for greed of power (by pulling out support from coalition governments),” he said.
NPAs in Indian banks is Congress’ making: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused the Congress of creating a large mess of NPAs in Indian banks, saying loans were given to select industrialists during the previous UPA rule.
“I want to tell you about the NPA problem. Much before the Internet banking, the Congress invented phone banking and this caused the NPA mess. A phone call would get loans for their cronies and the nation suffered,” Modi said, replying to the debate on the no confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
“Our government decided that the banks should come out into the open with NPAs, and we also took some decisions that would help the country in long run.”
He said sixty years after independence, Rs 18 lakh crore was the total bank loan but between 2008 to 2014, this increased to Rs 52 lakh crores.
PM urges states to punish lynch mobs
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged all the state governments to take strict action against those involved in mob lynching incidents and punish them to curb the menace happening in the country for the last few months.
“Any instance of violence brings shame to the nation. I will once again urge the state governments to punish those who indulge in violence,” he said his reply to the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
Several people have been lynched by mobs in the last few months on the basis of rumours or fake news that they were child lifters. Earlier, people have been attacked and murdered on allegations of cow slaughter and possessing beef, banned by the law.