Will die but won't insult PM Modi's parents, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hatred towards his family, but he does not harbour the same feelings for the PM.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Photo: Congress/ FILE

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hatred towards his family, but he does not harbour the same feelings for the PM. Gandhi also said the Congress would defeat the prime minister "with love". The Congress chief's remarks came days after Modi said in a rally that former PM Rajiv Gandhi's life ended as 'Bhrashtachari No 1' (corrupt number 1)". "Modi ji talks with hatred. He insults my father, grandmother, great grandfather. But I will never in my life speak about his family, his mother and father. I will die, but will never insult his mother and father. "This is because I am not a RSS or BJP man, but belong to the Congress. I will return him love if hatred is thrown at me...We will defeat Modi ji with love, hugging you," he said. Also, taking to Twitter, Gandhi said the fight on issues can be brutal but hatred and violence should not be used against each other. Gandhi's message for leaders and political parties came on a day Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar was back in the news with an article justifying his "neech" jibe against Narendra Modi, and also calling him the most "foul-mouthed" prime minister the country has seen. "I'm pushing for a new language in politics. Let's fight each other brutally on issues. Let's fight hard on ideology. But...Let's not use hatred and violence against each other," Gandhi tweeted. It's bad for the country, he said. His remarks come after an acrimonious exchange between political parties and leaders throughout the election campaign. Gandhi also took a dig at Modi for his reported remarks about clouds helping the Indian Air Force jets escape Pakistani radars during Balakot airstrikes. During an interview to a News channel aired last Saturday, Modi said, "Experts were re-thinking the airstrike due to bad weather, but I said, so much cloud cover and rains could be beneficial. Maybe we could escape their radar. This was my raw wisdom, I said there could be a benefit. Ultimately I said, there's cloud cover, please go ahead." The Prime Minister's quote was shared on the official BJP and BJP Gujarat Twitter pages, only to be deleted later. Taking a swipe at Modi, Gandhi, while addressing an election rally in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain, said: "Modi ji, whenever it rains in India, do all aircraft disappear from the radar." The Congress leader also made a veiled reference to Modi's interaction with actor Akshay Kumar in which the PM revealed that he loved mangoes as a child and still loves them. "Modi ji, you taught (us) how to eat mangoes; now tell the country what you did for jobless youth," he said. Gandhi said his party's proposed minimum income guarantee scheme Nyay will jump start the Indian economy and set right the "injustice" done due to GST and demonetisation. The economy has been left in the doldrums due to flawed GST implementation and demonetisation. "The Nyay scheme will benefit five crore families who earn less than Rs 12,000 per month. This means Rs 72,000 will be deposited in the bank accounts of beneficiaries annually and Rs 3.6 lakh in five years," he said. Demonetisation and GST have left lakhs of people unemployed and small and medium enterprises have been left in the lurch, Gandhi said. "The Nyay scheme will ensure that people start purchasing goods, while small and medium businesses can start manufacturing the goods resulting in employment opportunities," he said. Nyay is not an option but a necessity, Gandhi said.