Congress general secretary and party in-charge of east Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was more an “actor” than a politician and accused him of only “staging dramas” during the last five years.
“It would have been better had he gone for acting,” the 47-year-old Congress star campaigner said winding up her campaign for the last phase of Lok Sabha polls at roadshows in Mirzapur and Kushinagar in the Purvanchal region.
While her party’s Lalitesh Pati Tripathi is pitted against Apna Dal (Sonelel) leader and sitting MP Anupriya Patel in Mirzapur, former minister in UPA government, RPN Singh, is contesting on Congress ticket from Kushinagar.
She likened Modi to Asrani’s character in Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Sholay.
She asked the crowd, “Have you seen the ‘Sholay’ movie and Asrani’s role in it? He used to always say ‘angrezon ke zamane mein’ (in the time of the British).”
“And in the same way Modi ji talks about Jawaharlal’s work, Indira Gandhi’s work and Rajiv Gandhi’s work. Why doesn’t he talk about his work in the last five years?” she said.
“Ab aap samajh lijiye ke apne duniye ke sabse bade abhineta ko apna PM bana diya hai. Isse achchha toh aap Amitabh Bachchan ko hi PM bana dete. Karna toh kisi ne kuch nahi tha aapke liye (You should think that you have voted for the world’s greatest actor as your PM. It would have been better if you had elected (Bollywood superstar) Amitabh Bachchan. Nobody would have worked for your good anyway),” Priyanka Gandhi said while targeting Modi during her roadshow.
“The aim of the BJP is to grab power. Modi has been unable to fulfil the promises made during the last general election,” she said.
“The Congress on the contrary does not make false promises, but works in the interests of the farmers, the poor and the youngsters,” she added.
At both events, she referred to the stray cattle menace in Uttar Pradesh.
The Mirzapur parliamentary constituency is one of the two seats where the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) was successful in the 2014 general elections. The Congress has won the Mirzapur seat five times, Samajwadi Party four times, Bharatiya Janata Party twice, the last time in 1998. Bahujan Samaj Party has also been successful on this seat twice 1957.
The Congress, once dominant in Mirzapur, has not won an election from this seat after 1984.
Priyanka had earlier visited the district in April and also went for darshan of Maa Vindhyavashni and claimed to have sought blessings for welfare of the people.
“This election is an election in which we are fighting to save our democracy and our democratic institutions and every citizen must cast his vote responsibly,” The Congress general secretary said while appealing to the people to vote for a change and save democracy.
At Girdhar crossing in Mirzapur, when some youths started chanting `Modi Modi…”, Priyanka offered them garlands and asked them to continue trusting him.
To counter BJP supporters, Congressmen also shouted ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ after which the BJP workers left.
Priyanka’s roadshow ended at Sankat Mochan Temple after which she left for another roadshow in Kushninagar.