After Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s address at a CII programme, the BJP on Thursday said that he suffers from “Modi-phobia” and that his speech “lacks clarity”.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said: “Rahul talked about empowering the pradhan (village headman), but not the Pradhan Mantri (Prime Minister) which led to a situation where PM Manmohan Singh “was in office but not in power”. Describing Rahul’s speech as “lacklustre without any direction”, the principal opposition party said instead of answering questions on issues like price rise, governance, corruption and terrorism, Rahul raised questions instead.
“It was confusion confounded. It was a lacklustre speech without any direction or clarity. And Modiphobia was also clearly visible... It really exemplifies the deep crisis within the Congress, in its ideologies, programmes and governance,” said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
Another party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain asked why Rahul had not spoken about corruption and price rise. “We thought that he would speak on corruption and inflation, but he has disappointed the nation,” Hussain said.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said he was perplexed by what Rahul had said. “Who was he criticising? Certainly not us, as we have not been in power for the last several years... Was he targeting his family or his party?”