Agra/Solapur: Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday had provoked a strong retort from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Referring to Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech on the Rafale deal, Rahul Gandhi said, “The watchman with a 56-inch chest ran away and told a woman, Sitharaman ji, defend me.”
Hitting back at Rahul, Modi termed the remark as an insult to all women in the country. He further called himself a chowkidar (watchman) who can pick a wrongdoer even in darkness in his fight against corruption. He said that the opposition parties were scared of his clean-up mission that even rivals SP and the BSP are coming together
Modi accused Congress leaders of insulting all women in the country. He said Sitharaman had floored the Opposition in the Lok Sabha by coming up with “fact after fact” on the Rafale deal row. “This is not an insult to a woman, but an insult to entire India’s women power, for which these irresponsible leaders will have to pay the price.”
The Prime Minister said it was a matter of pride that a woman had become defence minister for the first time in the country. Retorting to this, Gandhi tweeted, “In our culture respect for women begins at home. Stop shaking. Be a man and answer my question: Did the Air Force and Defence Ministry object when you bypassed the original Rafale deal? Yes? Or No?”
Referring to some media reports that had claimed alleged middleman Christian Michel, arrested in the Agusta Westland VVIP chopper case, was lobbying for French manufacturer Rafale’s rivals when the earlier government was in power, Modi said, “Congress should answer which leader of their party, now shouting about this (Rafale deal), has a connection with Michel. They should give an account of each and every penny spent,” he said.
“Modi is made up of a different mettle. He cannot be bought nor can anyone scare him. I will take an account of every single penny. This chowkidar doesn’t sleep and can pick a wrongdoer even in darkness. They may continue abusing me but I will not stop my mission to uproot corruption,” he added.
Hitting out at the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Mayawati-headed Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), he said, “Rivals are coming together just to oppose us. Political rivals, who didnt even like to look at each other, are now coming together just to oppose us.”
“They fear the chowkidar, which is why they want to throw me out of power,” Modi said, citing alleged scams in sand and gravel mining in Uttar Pradesh during the separate regimes of these two parties in the state earlier. “The investigating agencies are seeking an answer from them of their misdeeds and so they are conspiring against the chowkidar…,” Modi said.
“This is happening only because the chowkidar is awake and is standing in front of them with full honesty…To remove the chowkidar they are collecting all the ‘tinkas’ and ‘tukdas'(straw and broken pieces),” he said.
At the rally, Modi defended the introduction of the 10 per cent quota for the general category poor in jobs and education. He said the bill’s passage in the Lok Sabha is a strong answer to those spreading lies.