Rama Krishna Sangem
Union Minister Smriti Irani launched a counter-attack against Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi on the issue of Adani, on the second of the three day debate on the No confidence motion in Lok Sabha on August 9, Wednesday. Smriti who defeated Rahul in 2019 LS elections was fielded by the ruling BJP to reply to the points raised by Rahul’s maiden speech after he was reinstated as Wynad MP two days ago.
Rahul Gandhi who spoke at length about the Manipur issue during his speech launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not neither going to the northeastern state which is engulfed in violence for over three months nor speaking on the issue in Lok Sabha. “I visited Manipur, but our PM Modi has no time to go there. Does it mean, for the PM and BJP think Manipur is not in India?” asked Rahul.
Like in all his recent speeches, Rahul Gandhi basically spoke about how the ruling BJP has been destroying the idea of India for the last nine years. However, his comment that BJP has killed “Bharat Mata” has sparked off a row, with loud shouts from the treasury benches, evoking equally loud protests from the opposition side. Rahul Gandhi brought some heat into debate saying: “Inhone, Manipur main, Hindustan ko Hatya Kiya”
Flying Kiss row
What dominated the Day 2 debate on no trust motion is BJP women MPs’ complaint that Rahul Gandh blew a flying kiss in the House. Terming this is an inappropriate behaviour, BJP member Sobha Karandlaje lodged a complaint with Speaker Om Birla. Though details of this are available immediately, some TV channels showed Rahul, after his speech stood up and stretching his land from mouth – apparently a flying kiss or air kiss.
BJP MP and former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad came down heavily on Rahul said that showed his arrogance and attitude. “The more Rahul Gandhi speaks in the House, the more he makes himself light of,” said Prasad. BJP members recalled Rahul’s earlier instance of winking in the House. “First winking, now flying kiss in this House,” said they. The speaker is expected to take a decision on their complaint by tomorrow.
Earlier, Smriti Irani rebutted Congress charge that Modi government has propped up Adani’s business empire. “It was previous Congress governments which awarded big business infrastructure contracts to Adani. Be it by Manmohan Singh government at the Centre or Congress governments in states like Rajasthan, which awarded major infra deals to Adani,” said Irani.
