'Dynasts have self-illusory opinion': Jaitley responds to Rahul's 'I dismantled Modi's image' remark

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday wondered how the Congress president could damage the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is riding on the peak of his popularity.

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday wondered how the Congress president could damage the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is riding on the peak of his popularity.

NEW DELHI: Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday wondered how the Congress president could damage the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is riding on the peak of his popularity. The dynasts have self-illusionary opinion about themselves and tend to become megalomaniacs, he said adding "Rahul Gandhi is no exception". "With Prime Minister Modi’s personal acceptability ratings today being close to 70%, Rahul proclaims that he is dead sure that Modi is very unpopular.  The irony of every dynast is that he buys his own propaganda even if there are not too many others willing to accept it," he said. Jaitley was referring to Gandhi's statement quoted by a media organisation that "I have dismantled Modi's image... I will damage his image". In a blog titled 'A Dynast's non-existent revenge against the man who defeated him in 2014 - I Dismantled PM's Image', Jaitley said, "But how do you damage the image of a person who is riding perhaps at the peak of his popularity? How do you damage the reputation of a person who is known to be incredibly honest?" "Can image be destroyed by a person who belongs to a family which has been tainted through generations with charges of corruption? How do you claim to have succeeded in damaging the image of a powerful personality where Prime Minister Modi's acceptability ratings are close to 70 per cent and Rahul is finding it difficult to even breach the 20 per cent mark?" he added. Accusing Gandhi of concocting falsehood, the minister said the Congress president can only dream of destroying his opponent. "It's clear that Rahul Gandhi concocts falsehood, as in the Rafale case, starts believing his falsehood to be true and eventually dreams that the falsehood has destroyed his opponent. "He does not gauge public opinion. He only talks but does not listen. Such people surround themselves with advisors who have also tactically learnt to only give good news to the dynast "Rahul’s attitude is at complete variation with the traditional Congress way of doing things.  His revenge against Prime Minister Modi may not succeed. It may well turn out to be a revenge against the Congress, Jaitley said. "Dynasts have a sense of entitlement.  They believe that they were born to rule. Gandhis suffer from this sense of entitlement. The 2014 election was an utter shock to them. Losing to a person of modest origins and being reduced to the lowest ever strength in history, became unacceptable to the dynasty.  It took them more than three years to get out of the shock of the 2014 rout," the minister said. (With inputs from PTI)