Lok Sabha Elections: Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "cooking mutton in the month of Sawan" comment, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said on Friday that the Prime Minister should give an account of his 10 years in power. Yadav said, "Idhar udhar ki baat na karein, muddey ki baat karein Pradhanmantri" (Don't talk about irrelevant things, talk about the issues, Prime Minister).
Reacting to PM Modi's remarks, Tejashwi Yadav cornered the PM on the issues of unemployment and inflation. He said that PM Modi does not give an account of jobs and inflation, and the public wants to know what he has done for the people of Bihar.
"I have been speaking about jobs, about employment, about inflation for long. He doesn't give an account for that. PM can say anything he wants but public wants to hear what he did for the people of Bihar. We are demanding an account of things that they did for Bihar in 10 years. PM should give an account of 10 years. Idhar udhar ki baat na karein, muddey ki baat karein Pradhanmantri," Tejashwi Yadav said.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the 'Mughal' mindset of I.N.D.I.A bloc leaders Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav and his son, Tejashwi Yadav for "hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus and teasing them by cooking mutton during Sawan and eating fish during Navratri." PM Modi said that these leaders are inspired by a 'Mughal' mindset and they enjoy hurting the sentiments of the people.
Prime Minister's remarks were about Rahul Gandhi's visit to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, where he cooked mutton at the latter's residence on September 2, 2023. The Wayanad MP had also shared a video in this regard on his YouTube channel.
Addressing an election rally in Udhampur, Prime Minister Modi said, "The people of Congress and INDI alliance do not care about the sentiments of the majority of the people of the country. They enjoy playing with the sentiments of the people. A person who has been sentenced by the court and who is on bail, they visit the house of such a criminal and enjoys cooking mutton in the month of Sawan and they make a video of it to tease the people of the country."
The Congress also accused the prime minister of trying to find a new diversion every day. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the PM Modi's non-stop politicking is infantile and tiresome and claimed that the BJP is lagging behind in the polls as it was yet to put together its manifesto while the Congress has already declared one and is reaching out to the people.
"Unlike the prime minister, we have not tracked which leader ate what in which month. Here are the nutrition data points that we are tracking instead," Ramesh said in a post on X.
He said anaemia is caused by several factors, including iron deficiency, inadequate diet and other nutrient deficiencies. Between 2015-16 and 2019-21, anaemia in children under five increased by nearly 10 percentage points, he said, adding that among women aged 15 to 19, the prevalence of anaemia increased by 9.2 per cent.
In the PM's home state of Gujarat, a shocking eight out of ten children under five were found to be anaemic, he said. "A Rs 4000-crore scheme to include breakfast for school-going children in the mid-day meal programme was vetoed by the finance ministry due to a lack of funds," he alleged.