It is the war of words: Venkaiah Naidu uses 'chuhe' to counter 'Rahul babu' in LS

It was Rahul Gandhi’s moment of glory in the Lok Sabha on Monday. In his first speech from the Opposition benches, the Congress vice president riled up the BJP benches by referring to Narendra Modi as “your Prime Minister”. “He is nation’s Prime Minister”, BJP said, hitting back. “Yes, he is the country’s Prime Minister but is he not your Prime Minister?" he retorted with a genial. The controversy around the ordinance on land acquisition bill is set to remain at the centre of the storm with both Congress and the NDA government upping their ante over the legislation but this was Gandhi at his combative best. While Gandhi’s speech stunned many of his detractors and India, PM Narendra Modi assigned Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu to stonewall Congress’ attacks. [caption id=“attachment_2205304” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=” “] AFP image.[/caption] While Rahul went one up with his “suit-boot ki sarkar”, Congress had no comeback for Naidu’s “chuhe” reference to “Rahul babu”. Indian Express  on Tuesday quoted Naidu as saying, “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.” Naidu followed it up by saying that the public was wise enough to understand and decide. Speaking to media on Tuesday, Naidu said, “Congress party criticising the Ordinance route is like a devil quoting scriptures. Their record is worse. They have issued ordinances umpteen number of times.” Rahul on Monday led the opposition attack in the Lok Sabha on the government over the problems being faced by farmers, saying it had “failed” them and specifically targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over it, a PTI report said. Saying that Congress saw “only one person” to attack and blame for everything (referring to PM Narendra Modi) Naidu said that “after 50 years” Congress had no moral right to question the Bill or BJP. For every attack by Rahul, Naidu had a witty comeback. When Rahul advised Modi to go meet the farmers to see their plight, Naidu was quick to reply that the Prime Minister had deployed that job to three Union ministers, including himself. “The fact is, the PM had called the home minister, the rural development minister, the agriculture minister, myself and others to go to states, which we did,” Naidu said. Reminding the Congress of its past, Naidu said, “There is a limit for disinformation. Falsehood cannot become truth by repeating it 10 times. Before criticising us for ‘murder of democracy’, when you imposed emergency and put lakhs of people behind bars and stifled the media, what did you call it? You have forgotten all the past.” “Please do some homework before criticising us,” Naidu told the Congress and its vice president. In fact, when Naidu got up to speak after Rahul’s speech, he opened with: “As a farmer, I would like to open my heart.” Highlighting the steps taken by the government for farmers, Venkaiah Naidu said, “On all fronts the PM has paid attention and helped out farmers.” He added by saying , “Jitna atta utna roti. Virasat mein hume kya mila (what we have inherited) too has to be taken into account.” Urging the Opposition to be patient, Naidu said that the ordinance on land acquisition was re-promulgated after much discussion and debate. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister did not spare Rahul for his comments and said,“You have been power for 50 years, we have been in power only for 9 months. Are we patronising only industrialists? Drawing Opposition anger, Naidu said, “We have given Rs 5,000 crores extra to MNREGA, we also have Swachh Bharat, is it all to help rich people? Our government is for the poor people. Your government was worst for the poor and good for the rich, that’s why they have brought you there (opposition) and brought us here (government).”