New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s response on Sunday to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on his father Rajiv Gandhi “ending his life as bhrashtachari (corrupt) number one” was a hug, and a warning on “karma”.
“Modi Ji, The battle is over. Your Karma awaits you. Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself onto my father won’t protect you. All my love and a huge hug. Rahul,” read the tweet from the Congress chief, who made headlines last year by hugging the Prime Minister on the floor of parliament.
The PM’s statement has been condemned not just by Rahul Gandhi’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and former union minister P Chidambaram, but also other opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal.
Under unrelenting attacks by the Congress over the Rafale fighter jet deal, the Prime Minister on Saturday said Gandhi’s only aim was to tarnish his image. “Your father was termed ‘Mr Clean’ by his courtiers, but his life ended as ‘Bhrashtachari No 1’ (corrupt number 1),” he said at a rally in Uttar Pradesh.
The reference was to corruption allegations in another defence deal – the purchase of Bofors guns in the 1980s – against the Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi which led to its defeat and the era of coalition governments.
Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991 by Sri Lankan rebels, had got a clean chit from the court in the Bofors case. The Delhi High Court said there was no evidence that he accepted bribes and eventually dismissed all charges against the accused persons in the politically sensitive case.
“Mr Modi has crossed all limits of propriety and decency by defaming a man (Rajiv Gandhi) who died in 1991,” P Chidambaram tweeted.
