Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who spoke first from the Opposition side in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address on Wednesday, February 2, certainly scored brownie points with his pointed criticism of the Narendra Damodardas Modi government.
Was it the years of taunts, often below-the-belt hits, from the Bharatiya Janata Party that finally provoked him into tearing into the government like never before?
Accusing the BJP of bringing back the 'idea of king' (a straight jab at Modi's unchallenged status both within and without the government) which was 'smashed in 1947', Gandhi hit back at the abuse heaped on his family.
'My great grandfather was jailed for 15 years. My grandmother was shot 32 times. My father was blown to bits. So I know what I am talking about,' he pointed out to the treasury benches, hinting that there was none in their ranks who could boast of similar sacrifices in the cause of the nation.
But what struck home even more was his charge that the Modi government's policies have to the creation of two Indias, of have and have-nots, led to social discord, isolation in the international arena, and the ganging up of arch-enemies China and Pakistan.
As a wag pointed out on Twitter, all this was said extempore, without the aid of a teleprompter.
That Rahul's aggressive posturing would win him scores of admirers on social media was a given.
That the government was rattled too by such an unprecedented verbal assault from him was evident from the big guns it promptly rolled out to counter him, from External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to Kiren Rijuju to Pralhad Joshi.
Evidently, the first round has gone to Rahul Gandhi. Now all eyes are on Prime Minister Modi's reply to the debate on motion of thanks expected to be on February 7, when he will respond in his acerbic style to Rahul Gandhi's fusillade.
You can read Rahul Gandhi's speech below
Source: http://loksabhadocs.nic.in
