PM's jibe at Rahul: Earthquake finally occurred

Rahul Gandhi. PTI Photo

New Delhi: "The earthquake finally occurred," Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said while referring to last night's tremors in north India which he used to take a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his comments made earlier. Gandhi had in December last said that he possessed certain material against the Prime Minister and if he spoke in Parliament, there would be an "earthquake". ALSO READ: Demonetisation, right decision at right time: PM "The earthquake finally occurred. I was wondering how it happened. I had heard of the threat long back," Modi said in Lok Sabha, in an apparent reference to Rahul's comments. Last night, earthquake, epicentred in Uttarakhand, struck many parts of north India. Modi said he was monitoring the situation in the aftermath of the earthquake in north India. "There must be some reason that Mother Earth is so angry. When somebody sees a sense of service and humility even in scams, then not only the mother but even the Mother Earth gets upset, and earthquake happens," Modi said as he began replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address. As Modi spoke, Congress members and Kalyan Banerjee (TMC) kept protesting. In his 90-minute speech, the Prime Minister took several jibes at Congress and accused it of curbing democracy for the sake of one family, a reference to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Modi also hit out at Congress, saying for it the "entire credit" for the country's independence goes to only "one family", an apparent reference to Nehru-Gandhi clan. He said the freedom struggle had started even before Congress was born and lakhs of people had laid down their lives for the purpose. In this regard, he mentioned the mutiny of 1857 and sacrifices of freedom fighters like Savarkar. Everybody gave their lives irrespective of any communal divide, he said. "The lotus flowered then and the lotus flowers now," he said. To Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge's contention that nobody linked to BJP and RSS had made sacrifices for freedom, Modi said his party leaders were not brought up in a culture of dogs. Noting that several members of the House were born after independence, Modi, who was also born in 1950, said they did get an opportunity to sacrifice their give our lives for the country but have a chance to live for it.