‘Fight is for poor, interests of nation supreme’
Taking jibe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that when people look for a sense of service and modesty in scam, the earth shakes.
“Yesterday there was an earthquake. We will do whatever we can to aid those affected. But finally the earthquake did come. I was wondering why the quake came when it did. The threat was given a long time ago. There must be some reason that Mother Earth was so angry.”
Without naming anyone, PM targeted Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi – on his December 9 threat of causing a political earthquake and his recent SCAM acronyms.
Leading the opposition’s attack against the government demonetisation move, Rahul Gandhi had, in December last year, accused the government of running away from a debate and said there would be an earthquake if they allow me to speak.
In his reply to the discussion on motion of thanks to the President’s address on January 31, the Prime Minister linked that statement and Gandhi’s SCAM acronym and quipped, “How can someone see sewa or any other positive virtue in a scam?”
Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday, said that for him S stands for ‘service’, C for ‘courage’, A for ‘ability’ and M for ‘modesty’ – a latest in a series of scam acronyms doing the rounds, including those by UP chief minister Akhilesk Yadav and the PM.
PM also attacked, leader of opposition, Mallikarjun’s Kharge on his Dog statement that Indira Gandhi had sacrificed her life for the nation and other Congress leaders had made sacrifices for India’s independence, the PM and his party members cannot claim the patriotism of “even a dog from his family.
Responding to the statement, PM said “We are not brought up in this sort of obsequious tradition” (Hum kutton wali parampara se pale bade nahin hain).
“There are many people here like me who were born after independence, we were not lucky to fight in the freedom struggle, but we are living and working for India,” PM Modi said.
He added “I have said it in the past- every Prime Minister has contributed to the nation. But there is a party here that wants to attribute everything to one family.”
Responding to the Opposition protests against the Budget being presented ahead of elections in five states, PM Modi said, “We do not see everything from the prism of elections. The interests of the nation are supreme for us. It does not matter how big you are, you will have to give back what belongs to the poor. My fight is for the poor,” he said.
The PM also defended his government’s move to demonetise high value currency notes. “When can you have an operation? When the body is healthy. The economy was doing well and thus our decision was taken at the right time. Like Swachh Bharat, the decision on demonetisation is a movement to clean India (from corruption and black money),” he said.
On Surgical strikes
Modi said “I was astonished to see statements made by some politicians on the surgical strikes. It was disturbing. They had to change their stand after gauging the mood of the nation.”
