Leader Of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge speaks in the House during the ongoing session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said 140 crore Indians conveyed the same message to him, as the phrase he used for the Congress, in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
Hitting back at tumse na ho payega [you are not up to it] jibe of Mr. Modi at Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, Mr. Kharge said: “The way you mentioned ‘Tumse Na Ho Payega’ in your speech of two hours and twenty-four minutes, 140 crore Indians have said the same thing to your government in this election. The farmers who provide food to us voted against your false promises of ‘doubling their income’ and said ‘Tumse na ho payega’”.
Mr. Kharge added that crores of youths who are still wandering pillar to post in search of jobs after Mr. Modi’s promise of providing two crore jobs every year have also said tumse na ho payega as have the Dalits, tribals, backward classes, and minorities who voted against the BJP.
“Every victimised woman in the country, troubled by the constant violence, oppression and character assassination, while voting against the ‘Beti Bachao’ advertising slogan, said tumse na ho payega. Every member of every lower and middle class family in the country voted against your slogan of acche din [good days] and said tumse na ho payega,” Mr. Kharge added.
Millions of harassed and devastated small traders voted against the BJP’s slogan of creating a $5 trillion economy, he said, while adding: “Modiji, you have insulted the mandate. Understand the sentiments of the people. Give up dictatorship!”
In another post, the Congress chief recalled that the Prime Minister, who has called the Congress a “parasite”, had used the same word in Parliament on Februray 8, 2021, to refer to farmers who feed the entire country.
“You insulted the year-long struggle of the farmers for their rights. In front of that, your dictatorial government had to bow down and withdraw the three anti-farmer black laws. Today, you have used the same word for the Congress party. This is not an abuse for the Congress party. It is a matter of pride for us to sacrifice our lives for nation building along with the farmers,” the Congress president said.
“To save the values of democracy in this country, the Congress is ready to face every abuse from the BJP. The decency of our leaders and their respect for the Constitution and institutions should not be construed as our weakness. The lesson of truth and non-violence shown by Gandhiji runs in our veins,” he further said.
