BackRahul Gandhi’s controversial comments: From ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ to ‘khoon ki dalali
Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of indulging in khoon ki dalali with the blood of the Indian soldiers at a rally in New Delhi. That comment follows a string of similar ones that have often resulted in controversy
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New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi loves to speak his mind, even if it risks creating a controversy, especially when it relates to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. Coming after a month long campaign of wooing farmers through his Kisan Yatra in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi did not lose any time taking a dig at Modi over the surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Kashmir. On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of indulging in “khoon ki dalali" with the blood of the Indian soldiers at a rally in New Delhi.
“Jo hamare jawan hain jinhone apna khoon diya hai, Jammu and Kashmir mein khoon diya hai, jinhone Hindustan ke liye surgical strike kiye hain, unke khoon ke peeche aap chhupe hain. Unki aap dalali kar rahe ho. Yeh bilkul galat hai. {You (Modi) are hiding behind the blood of soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir and those who carried out the surgical strikes for India. You are exploiting their sacrifices, which is very wrong}," Mint reported.
Here is a list of some of his most controversial comments:
• July 2016 - Arhar Modi: “There is a new slogan in villages: arhar Modi, arhar Modi, arhar Modi," Gandhi said in a 16-minute speech in Parliament, ridiculing India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) slogan of “Ghar Ghar Modi (Modi in every household)", as Hindustan Times reports.
• March 2016 - Modi Ji ‘Fair and Lovely Yojna’: Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said: “Nobody who has black money will be jailed under Modi’s ‘Fair and Lovely’ scheme. All those who have black money can make it white under this scheme" as Business Standard reports.
• April 2015 – Suit-Boot Sarkar: “The acche din government, they call themselves that, has failed the country. Yours is a government of big people, a suit-boot sarkar," Rahu Gandhi said in his first speech in Parliament from the opposition benches, NDTV reports.
Hitting out at Gandhi’s jibe, Union communications and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Our government is neither a ‘suit boot ki sarkar’ or ‘suitcase ki sarkar’ but it is ‘sujh bujh ki sarkar."
• August 2013 – Poverty is just a state of mind: “Poverty is just a state of mind. It does not mean the scarcity of food, money or material things. If one possesses self-confidence, then one can overcome poverty," Rahul Gandhi said during a discourse on ‘Culture, Deepening Democracy and Most Marginalised Communities’, held in Allahabad by noted social scientist Badri Narayan, as Firspost reports.
BJP spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Bahadur Pathak, responded by saying that Gandhi’s statement was arrogant and “mocks the poor." The Bahujan Samaj Party’s Naseemuddin Siddiqui said, “He comes from a billionaire family and many generations in the Gandhi Nehru family have not seen poverty even from a distance. So they cannot be blamed for their poor knowledge," as Firstpost reports
• August 2013 – We are a beehive: “India is a decentralized system. Its power is soft, but it is there. Boss, our environment is not simple, we cannot give you simple answers... China is a dragon. India is called an elephant, but we’re not an elephant, we’re a beehive," as The Times of India reports.
• January 2013 – Congress is a funny party: “It is a funny party. It is the largest political organization in the world but perhaps does not have a single rule or regulation. We create new rules every two minutes and then dump them. Nobody knows the rules in the party," Gandhi said at the All India Congress Committe session in Jaipur, as News18 reports.
• October 2012 – On Punjab drug problem: “what is happening to human resources in Punjab. 7 out of 10 youth have the problem of drugs," Rahul Gandhi said during his two-day visit to the state, as The Times of India reports.
Responding to reporters on Gandhi’s speech, Shiromani Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral said, “I am not a mathematician like Mr Rahul Gandhi who after a flying visit to Punjab has discovered that 7 out of 10 children in Punjab are addicted to drugs," The Times of India added.
• July 2011 – On terror attacks: “We will stop 99% of the terror attacks but 1% of attacks might get through," Rahul Gandhi responded to reporters at Bhubaneswar about previous days’ serial blasts in Mumbai, as Indian Express reports.
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