Rahul Gandhi takes on PM Modi, says "Just 2 minutes on Manipur in 2-hour speech?'

New Delhi, August 11: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, criticising his speech in the Lok Sabha during a no-confidence motion.

Rahul Gandhi expressed his disapproval, stating that "it is inappropriate for the Prime Minister to exhibit laughter and make jokes in Parliament while Manipur has been grappling with a crisis for more than three months".

"Observing the Prime Minister devote two hours to discussing the Opposition and making seemingly absurd comments about the coalition name I.N.D.I.A. is a matter of tragedy. Such behaviour fails to uphold the standard expected of an Indian Prime Minister," said the Congress leader.

"Yesterday the PM spoke in Parliament for about 2 hours and 13 minutes. In the end, he spoke on Manipur for 2 minutes. Manipur has been burning for months, people are being killed, and rapes are happening, but the PM was laughing, cracking jokes. It doesn't behove him...", the Congress MP said during a press briefing at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi.

Rahul Gandhi further said "PM Modi has a complete misunderstanding about what the Prime Minister of India is”.

“When the Prime Minister becomes a Prime Minister, he ceases to be a politician. He becomes the representative of the country. The politics should be put aside and the Prime Minister should not speak as a petty politician, or like a leader of a political party but the Prime Minister should speak with the weight of the Indian people behind him”, he said.

Further, Rahul Gandhi added, “And it is tragic to watch Narendra Modi, it is sad. Because the Prime Minister does not understand what he actually is. He is our representative. He is my representative. He is all our representative. And watching the Prime Minister spend two hours talking about the Congress party, talking about the Opposition, making ridiculous remarks about the name. This really does not do justice to an Indian Prime Minister. I have seen Prime Ministers from the Congress party. I have seen Prime Ministers from the BJP, I have seen previous Prime Ministers including Mr Vajpayee, Mr Deve Gowda, none of them have ever done this. This is a complete misunderstanding in the mind of Narendra Modi ji about what the Prime Minister of India is…”

Reiterating that PM Modi should visit strife-torn state of Manipur and set aside the talks of next general elections, the Congress MP further alleged that he did not see any intention of the Prime Minister to visit Manipur and talk to the communities (Kuki and Meitei).

“PM at least could go to Manipur, talk to communities and say I am your PM, let's start talking but I don't see any intention...”, he said.