In his latest visit to Jammu to participate in late Girdhari Lal Dogra's centenary celebrations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a swipe at the nation's first family, and what ensued was a dramatic siege of words between Congress and the Bharatiya Janta Party.
Obliquely comparing Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra to Dogra's son-in-law, finance minister Arun Jaitley, Modi said, “I'm very sure that Girdhari Lalji's judgement of character was very sharp, it shows in his choice of son-in-law. Otherwise we all know what embarrassment sons-in-law have become for their in-laws nowadays.”
The statement did not go down well Congress' throat for obvious reasons and shortly afterwards, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi retorted during a rally in Jaipur, referring to Modi's land acquisition bill. “The farmers, Congress and people of India will turn the ‘56-inch chest’ into a 5.6-inch chest, you will see. We won’t give a single inch of land,” he said. “Now that he has become the PM, why would he be concerned about farmers? He made several promises, but they were all empty ones,” Gandhi added. “I liked the film Lagaan. In the movie, the farmers were disunited, but then they got together and protested against tax,” he said.
The young Gandhi did not stop there, making allegations on NDA leaders being involved in corrupt practices. “It is a Lalit Modi government in Rajasthan, Vyapam government in MP, Munde government in Maharashtra,” he said. “Like during the British Raj days, the remote control of the government in India was in London, the remote control of the Rajasthan government is in London.”
Tsk tsking over the temperamental statements of the Congress vice president, BJP heavily rained on him, asking him to give up his “toddler” politics and “grow out of diapers”. BJP secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said, “It is high time that Rahul Gandhi grow out of diapers he is wearing. He is no longer a toddler politician now.” In reference to the 56 inch chest comment, he said, “It is good that Gandhi has got a measurement tape, but he should not dare to measure the chest that has the blessings and pride of the crores of people in this country.”
