Priyanka likens Modi to Duryodhana; Shah hits back

In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said the Mahabharata character Duryodhana too had “such arrogance”.

The remark drew a sharp response from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“The people of the country will decide who is Duryodhana and who is Arjun,” its president Amit Shah said at public meeting later in West Bengal.

Addressing a Congress rally in Ambala, Priyanka Gandhi also hit back at Modi over his recent remark calling her late father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi “Bhrashtachari Number 1” (the most corrupt). She accused the ruling party of insulting the martyrs from her family.

The Congress general secretary addressed another meeting in Hisar and held a roadshow in Rohtak.

“This election is about achievements of the BJP-led Central government. But to hide their failures, they try to divert the attention of people of the country,” she said.

“This country has never forgiven ego and arrogance. History is witness to this, the Mahabharata is witness to this,” she said at the meeting in support of Kumari Selja, the Congress candidate from Ambala.

“Duryodhana also had such arrogance. When Lord Krishna went to show him the truth, make him understand, he tried to take him captive,” she said.

She read out a few lines by Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, which said wisdom is the first casualty before someone's downfall: “Jab naash manush par chhata hai, pehle vivek mar jata hai...”

The Congress leader said if the prime minister has “courage” he should fight the Lok Sabha elections on issues related to development, employment, farmers and women.

He should face the people and tell them what he has done for them over the past five years and what he plans to do in the future, she said.

“You are the PM, you are a big leader of the BJP, you should understand this. Otherwise the people will teach you a lesson,” she said.

“The people of our country are wise, they have been wise since times immemorial. You cannot mislead the people. The people of this country make every leader answerable, and they will make you answerable as well,” she said.

She targeted the BJP over Modi's remark on Rajiv Gandhi.

“When BJP leaders go out to campaign, they do not talk about issues. They do not say why they have not fulfilled the promises they made,” she said.

“They raise different issues. Sometimes they say the elephant was sleeping for 70 years. Sometimes they seek votes in the name of martyrs, and at other times they insult those from my family who sacrificed their lives,” she added.

“These polls are not about one family. This election is about crores of families whose hopes and aspirations have been completely broken by this government and the prime minister,” she said.

Attacking the ruling party, she said, “Their top leaders tour America, Japan. In Pakistan they eat biryani. In Japan, they beat the 'dhol'. In China they hug the president. But their top leaders do not go amongst the people of this country.

Her Hisar rally was in support of Congress nominee Bhavya Bishnoi, the grandson of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal.

“Bhavya studied in the same school as my children. Each year, during the prize distribution ceremony, I heard his name being called out because he won prizes in both sports and academics. I always wondered who this Bhavya Bishnoi was?” she said in Hissar.

She said she learnt about Bhavya Bishnoi's family years later.

“I have a special bond with Haryana. My daughter plays basketball for Haryana,” she said.

Priyanka Gandhi is in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh for her party and has mostly confined herself to the state during this election season.