Booted hona better hai, booted out hona khatarnak: BJP ups the ante against Rahul Gandhi

After weeks of waiting, when Rahul Gandhi finally returned to India on 16 April, within hours  people across various social media platforms went into a frenzy, building up the tempo for his first public speech after a 57-day sabbatical. [caption id=“attachment_2221502” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] On 19 April, taking the stage at the farmer’s rally in the capital, Rahul Gandhi kicked things off in style. Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his stand on the land bill, Rahul Gandhi said that the PM’s model is to “weaken the foundation, then attach a ladder to the building, paint it and show to the world that the building is shining.” The BJP was caught off guard and called for a MP’s workshop, where Modi declared that he was ‘pro-poor’. This only resulted in people pointing to it as a last minute image-saving move. And so began the war of the words. On the very next day, standing in the Lok Sabha, Rahul trashed Modi’s government, calling it a ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’. “Yours is a government of rich, government of suited-booted people, who do not understand that the real power of the country lies with its farmers and labourers, and not with the coporates,” he said. “Achhe din Sarkar has failed the country,” Rahul thundered . “Aapki sarkar udyogpati, corporate, bade logon aur suit boot ki sarkar hai (your government is government of industrialists, of corporate, of higher strata of society and is a suit boot government),” he added. Radha Mohan Singh, the BJP Minister of Agriculture, concluding the session tried to take a little swing at Rahul but to no effect, “I am grateful and welcome that Rahulji spoke on this subject and on behalf of the people of the nation I welcome him on his return to Parliament after a long foreign trip.” Things also seem to be going well for Rahul as Twitter, perhaps for the first time, praised him. Even mother Sonia Gandhi seem proud of him , “I did not hear the full speech of Rahul as I was busy meeting party leaders and farmers at my residence. But I was told by people it was good,” she said later in an interview. Venkaiah Naidu, BJP Minister of Urban Development of India, was among the first to counter Rahul. “Let us not try to score political points. Sau chuhe kha kar billi Haj ko chali. Rahul babu, you were in power for 50 years and we have been in power only 9, 10 months… Congress party criticising the Ordinance route is like a devil quoting scriptures,” he said in statement. But, in the next Lok Sabha session Rahul Gandhi was  even more aggressive  and bought up the issue of Net Neutrality. “I want to talk about your PM again, you will like what I’m about to say,” said the straight faced Congress president. Gandhi kept his address precise and sharp, and mildly taunting. “I am now going to praise your Prime Minister,” he started off, smiling at Nitin Gadkari. “No, actually our Prime Minister, the country’s Prime Minister… We want the government to take serious steps regarding net neutrality. This is a very important issue which will create problems in the future.” When some BJP members raised objection shouting “He is nation’s Prime Minister”, Rahul retorted with genial, “Yes, he is the country’s Prime Minister but is he not your Prime Minister?” When Time Magazine punlished Modi’s name on its ‘100 Most Influential’ list and Barack Obama wrote a piece praising him in it, Rahul again targeted the former saying , “Shayad Gorbachev kay baad, kisi kii bhi itni prashansa nahii kii jitni America kay President nay PM kay barey mey kii.” (After Gorbachev no other President has complimented a Prime Minister this much) Next was a trip to Kedarnath, where Rahul once again attacked the Modi government for ‘abandoning the poor farmer’. By now the BJP was feeling the heat and Arun Jaitley earlier this week launched a sharp attack against Rahul in a TV interview. “What is the kind of commitment to politics that you suddenly disappear for months together and then you come back and say that I will pick up an issue every day merely because it will make my presence felt. According to me, politics is not a one-off activity…you have to be consistent and have to be almost always there. In a political debate people have a right, he certainly has a right. Today he is on a rent-a-cause phase. He looks up one issue every day and wants to give a byte on that,” Jaitley said in  an iterview to an English news channel. But Rahul Gandi didn’t pay any heed and continued his attack on the PM. “P_radhan Mantri ji ka Hindustan mein tour laga hai, kuch dino ke liye woh yahan aaye hain_ (The Prime Minister is on India’s tour, he is here for a few days),” he said referring to the PM’s recent foreign tours. “Is ‘Make in India’ only for crony capitalists, 5 to 6 industrialists who are friendly?” he added. As _Firstpost_ noted earlier , " it appears the BJP leadership has finally decided that they need to respond to Rahul Gandhi ’s jibes against the government, particularly those directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi . It didn’t matter that the Congress Vice President was on Thursday touring parts of Vidarbha and wasn’t in Parliament, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley chose the debate on Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha to hit out at Gandhi." On Thursday, during a discussion on the Finance Bill in Parlament, Arun Jaitley openly slammed Rahul in a speech that was marked with sarcasm . “Yeh Sujh-bujh Ki sarkar hai, isme koi galatfahmi nahi rahe, (this is a wise government, let there be no illusions about it), yesterday criticism (by Rahul) was made against the Prime Minister that he spends time abroad. At least we know where he is.t,” he said in response to Rahul’s ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ jibe. “Congress Party would realize when the Prime Minister of India goes abroad even for two days or three days, he performs a national duty. There is a difference between performing a national duty and disappearing for a jaunt. Hopefully with these concessions the whole of this country can get footwear rather than only some people wearing footwear. Booted hona better hai. Booted out hona khatarnak hai,” he added.