Narendra Modi has often earned the wrath of his political opponents and neutral journalists in India for bringing the office of India’s prime minister to disrepute. Time and again, he’s been accused of making lowly remarks targeting his political opponents and lying for electoral gains. Now the prime minister has found himself in a spot of bother for allegedly making fun of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s status as a widow. This was after a video of Modi’s speech from an election rally in Rajasthan went viral on social media platforms.
Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan on 4 December, a day before the last day of campaigning for the assembly elections, Modi was attacking 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?”
Ever since the clip has gone viral, journalists and social media users have begun slamming the prime minister for allegedly mocking the widow status of Sonia Gandhi, who was the ruling UPA chairperson during the Manmohan Singh government between 2004 and 2014. Gandhi’s husband and former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was killed by LTTE terrorists in 1991.
Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah wrote, “New low by @narendramodi. His insensitive comments on opposition leaders are a blot on the chair of PM. There are many things that he has to learn from Mr. Manmohan Singh. He has insulted the whole women fraternity in his urge to target opposition.”
Journalist Swati Chaturvedi tagged the prime minister while writing, “New low. @PMOIndia has dragged down the discourse to utter debasement. Desperation?”
Activist Sadhavi Khosla tweeted, “How does a woman survives the pain when she receives the mutilated body of her husband – the man for whom she left everything? I feel, we as a country have been extremely cold and compassionless towards @SoniaGOfficial Mr. Modi’s remark on her being a widow is regrettable.”
User Savvy Priya wrote on Twitter, “How crass? The worst PM of India to use such a derogatory language ‘Which Congress widow benefitted from govt scheme?’ says PM Modi; Cong claims Sonia Gandhi ‘insulted.”