AGENCIES
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today hit out at INDIA — the alliance of Opposition parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — during the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting convened on Tuesday.
Speaking to media after the meeting, Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “The Prime Minister commented that Indian National Congress was made by a Britisher and East Indian Company was also made by Britisher. People also keep names like Indian Mujahideen and Indian People’s Front. They show something on their face, but the truth is something else.”
The Prime Minister also called the Opposition “directionless”, a party leader said.
“The PM said that the Opposition’s behaviour shows that they have decided to stay in opposition permanently for the coming years,” Union Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters. “He (the PM) said that in the face of a desperate and directionless Opposition, we should stay alert,” Joshi added.
“The Prime Minister said that we have to make India a developed country by 2047, and we should move ahead with this resolution, and live with this dream,” the Union Minister added.
PM Modi also spoke about the 25 years of the National Democratic Alliance and gave a call for taking the alliance forward, Joshi said.
“The PM also said its a time of dawn, a time to reflect. In 2014, we were number 10 in economy worldwide, by the second term we reached 5th rank, and he said that we will be the third largest economy during our third term,” Joshi added.
‘Call us what you want…’: Rahul Gandhi hits back as PM Modi’s I.N.D.I.A. barb triggers war of words
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks on the opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A. and said “call us what you want”, but “we are India” and “will rebuild the idea of India in Manipur”.
Modi had slammed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or I.N.D.I.A. as the most directionless the country has ever seen and cited reviled names, such as East India Company and Indian Mujahideen, to assert that people cannot be misled merely by the use of the country’s name.
Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said the prime minister told a BJP Parliamentary Party meeting that the conduct of the opposition has been such that as if it has decided to stay in the opposition for long.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ramesh Bidhuri said the prime minister said even those with a design to divide the country had names like East India Company and Indian Mujahideen, but people will not be misled by these gimmicks.