The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday slammed Congress Leader Pawan Khera for addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Narendra 'Gautam Das' Modi. The footage is from a news conference he gave last Friday, news agency ANI reported.
Khera can be seen in the video stumbling over the prime minister's full name, Narendra Damodardas Modi. He stated: "When Narasimha Rao could form a JPC, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee could form a JPC, then what problem does Narendra Gautam Das — sorry, Damodardas — Modi have?"
The AICC spokesperson then asks his colleague whether Modi's surname is Gautam Das or Damodardas. Damodardas Mulchand Modi is the name of the prime minister's father.
When corrected, Pawan Khera stated, "Naam Damordas hai, kaam Gautam Das ka hai," which translates to, "Although his name is Damordas, his work is that of a Gautam Das."
His blunder alluded to the Adani=Hindenburg controversy, which has billionaire Gautam Adani at its centre.
Hitting back at Khera, BJP IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya tweeted: “The Congress has repeatedly targeted PM Modi for his humble origins and now they haven’t even spared his dead father, who had nothing to do with politics… Congress’s deep seated sense of entitlement and disdain for a self made man doesn’t sit well with an aspirational India."
Union Home Minister Amit Shah condemned Khera's comments and stated: "The language used by a Cong spox (Pawan Khera) for PM Modi today is not his statement, but a statement that's in accordance with Rahul Gandhi's nature. Rahul Gandhi used abusive language for PM Modi in 2019 & as a result Cong lost its Opposition status," ANI reported.
The Congress has called for a joint parliamentary committee to investigate charges of fraud levelled against Adani Company by US-based Hindenburg. During his Lok Sabha address, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that Gautam Adani rose from 609th on the global wealthy list to become the world's second richest person.