New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday took a dig at the Centre asking 'What was Prime Minister Narendra Modi afraid of', referring to the Sansad TV telecast of Rahul Gandhi’s speech for just over 14 minutes, while he spoke for 37 minutes during the debate on no-confidence motion.
Taking a swipe at the government, Ramesh, who is also the party’s communication in-charge said, “In his first speech after coming back from the unjustified disqualification, Rahul Gandhi spoke from 12:09 p.m. to 12:46 p.m. i.e. 37 minutes during the No-Confidence Motion.
“Out of which the Sansad TV camera showed him for only 14 minutes 37 seconds. That’s less than 40 per cent of screen time. What is Modi afraid of?” Ramesh, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP said.
His remarks came after Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday tore into the BJP and attacked the Prime Minister during his speech in the Lok Sabha, in support of the no-confidence motion.
He accused the BJP’s politics of "murdering India in Manipur", which he said was the reason why the Prime Minister cannot go to Manipur. “He has killed India in Manipur and in the hearts of the people of Manipur,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader also remarked that the Prime Minister’s arrogance was burning the whole country, like “Ravana's arrogance got Lanka burned".
"If we want to hear the voice of people, we will have to crush our arrogance as Ravana was not killed by Lord Ram but his arrogance got him killed and in the same manner Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrogance is burning the whole country”, Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP on March 24, a day after the Surat court convicted him in the 2019 'Modi surname' defamation case. His membership was reinstated after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction last Friday.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat reinstated him as a member of Parliament on Monday.