Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stooped to a new low when he attacked Congress President Rahul Gandhi by mocking his deceased father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Addressing an election rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh, Modi told Rahul Gandhi that he mustn’t forget that his own father’s life had ended as the corrupt number 1.
Modi said, “Your courtiers had given your father the title of Mr Clean. They used to shout Mr Clean, Mt Clean with pomp and splendour. But, his life ended as ‘Bhrastachari number 1′ (corrupt number 1).”
Modi also alleged that Rahul Gandhi was out to tarnish his reputation by constantly attacking him over alleged corruption in the Rafale deal. Modi claimed that Gandhi himself had admitted in an interview that his only aim was to tarnish the image of the prime minister. He warned Gandhi that by routinely hurling abuses, he could not turn ‘the 50-long year of Modi’s tapasya(struggle) into dust.’
Modi’s comments spread like wildfire with the prime minister being condemned for causing disrepute to his office.
What a sad, shameful thing to say! You have no fucking right to talk levels of discourse when Modi calls Rajiv Gandhi names when you yourself are making statements like these. Somebody gets attacked in public, and you are talking conspiracy theories and TRPs? What a shame. Chhi!
— Vaibhav Vishal (@ofnosurnamefame) May 4, 2019
There isn’t a low that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can’t reach. To attack Rahul Gandhi, Modi says his father died as “corrupt number 1”. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by militants. Only last November, Modi had claimed he never attacks anyone’s parents. https://t.co/taywbA1wiP
— Manimugdha Sharma (@quizzicalguy) May 4, 2019
Slandering a dead man and that too a former PM is a new low. “Your father’s life ended as Brashtachari No.1” he tells Rahul. No words to say. #Elections2019https://t.co/1v8XoEDgvJ
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) May 4, 2019
No low is low enough. It just keeps getting worse.
What a disgrace to the highest office.
— Gurmehar Kaur (@mehartweets) May 4, 2019
Earlier Modi had faced condemnation for mocking Sonia Gandhi’s widowhood. Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan on 4 December last year, a day before the last day of campaigning for the assembly elections, Modi had attacked the Congress for allegedly being the harbinger of corruption in India since it governed the country for the longest period of time. It was during his speech when he said, “Can you imagine? The Congress ran a government in our country, where an unborn daughter was not just shown born but also dead and her widow’s pension was also shown to be paid. Which widow used to receive this money? Who was this widow in the Congress whose account this money used to be transferred?”
