The BJP defended its campaign committee chief Narendra Modi’s barbs at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Independence Day saying it cannot chose the timing to flag genuine governance issues according to Congress’ convenience.
Accusing the Congress of suffering from a ‘Modi phobia’, the opposition party refused to read much into the caution sounded by lK Advani, who had on Thursday advised leaders from criticising each other on occasions like Independence Day. “We respect what Advani says. But that does not mean that the Congress will set the time for a statement to be made (by Opposition). The Congress should instead set a muhurat for themselves to give answers, rather than
setting time for us to criticise,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said. Immediately after PM’s I-Day speech from lal Quila, Modi had launched a vitriolic attack on him for taking a soft line on Pakistan and all round failure on governance and economic issues. Sitharaman accused the Congress of lowering the level of political discourse with use of “derogatory” terms against Modi.
“Congress reacts to Modi as if it has been stung by a high voltage wire,” she said. The party rued that Congress leaders are using terms like “a frog which talks, monkey, a snake that bites, merchant of death and even guttersnipe” against Modi. Sitharaman said not only Modi but even President Pranab Mukherjee had strongly criticised the government in his speech on the eve of Independence Day.
“One gets the impression that the Congress Ministers do not do their duty and instead react impulsively to Modi,” she said. The party charged that though value of Rupee has been sliding, Congress ministers and leaders seemed more concerned about targeting Modi and were not losing any opportunity to use objectionable language.
“There is a great sense of concern about the falling rupee. It is about to cross the Rs 62 to a dollar mark. The state of affairs of the Indian economy is very grave. But instead of focussing on this, the Congress Cabinet Ministers, general secretaries and leaders’ attention has been on reacting impulsively to Modi,” Sitharaman said.