Congress supporters on Thursday took to Twitter to trend the hashtag #GetWellSoonModi after a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling Rahul Gandhi a ‘tubelight’ went viral. Modi made the controversial remarks during his speech replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha.
Modi was accusing a senior Congress leader of having threatened to beat him up. He said that it will take at least six months for that Congress leader to execute his plan. Modi added that he will take the next six months to practice more yoga to prepare himself for the thrashing by the Congress leader.
It was at this point when Rahul Gandhi got up to speak but wasn’t allowed by the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who’s also a BJP MP from Rajasthan. Reacting to Gandhi’s attempt for an intervention, Modi said disparagingly, “Respected Speaker, I have been speaking for 30-40 minutes but it took this long for the current to reach. Many tubelights function like this.”
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad shared the clip of the video using his official Twitter handle.
प्रधानमंत्री @narendramodi जी का करारा जवाब सुन उठ खड़े हुए राहुल गांधी ।#PMinLokSabha pic.twitter.com/iWNBRbSThd
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) February 6, 2020
Modi was referring to a statement made by Rahul Gandhi who had said during one of his election speeches in Delhi that jobless Indian youth will beat the prime minister up using sticks.
LIVE: Congress Party Briefing By @ManishTewari in Parliament House.#GetWellSoonModi https://t.co/0ArHUs27vF
— Congress Live (@INCIndiaLive) February 6, 2020
Incensed by Modi’s tubelight jibe, Congress supporters wished the prime minister to get well soon. Soon hashtag #GetWellSoonModi became a top Twitter trend. Terming his comments ‘unfortunate and deeply regrettable,’ Congress MP Manish Tewari likened the prime minister to a stand-up comedian.
This is how Twitterati reacted;
प्रधानमंत्री के मुख से निकला हर शब्द पूरा विश्व सुन रहा होता है।
भारत का प्रधानमंत्री और कुछ हो ना हो, संजीदा तो अवश्य होना चाहिए। #GetWellSoonModi https://t.co/QIlD2CJlRP— Pawan Khera (@Pawankhera) February 6, 2020
The world knows who gets a shock when asked out-of-syllabus questions.#PMinLokSabha #GetWellSoonModipic.twitter.com/TaJ0TWJYhA
— Rofl Republic ?? (@i_theindian) February 6, 2020
Every time when PM Narendra Modi gets up to speak … #GetWellSoonModi pic.twitter.com/afiJtB9Joa
— Niraj Bhatia (@bhatia_niraj23) February 6, 2020
Yesterday @RahulGandhi ji said don’t waste time listening to Amit Shah’s speech; it’s कचरा। Turns out Amit bhai’s speech is only छोटा कचरा। ? #GetWellSoonModi pic.twitter.com/VKqztVkTwh
— Ruchira Chaturvedi (@RuchiraC) February 6, 2020