NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his claim of winning 370 seats in this year's Lok Sabha elections, asking whether he would refuse to take oath if his party secured fewer seats.
The opposition party also slammed Modi for his oft-repeated attacks on former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and said that he needed to sharpen his oratory skills if he wanted to get close to even half the number of seats he has claimed.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, "The prime minister often says that there are only two castes in the country -- the rich and the poor -- but today in Parliament, he described himself as the 'biggest OBC'."
"It is important to change this mentality of considering someone small and someone else big. Be it OBCs, Dalits or tribals, economic and social justice cannot be provided to them without first counting their population," he said in a Hindi post on 'X'.
"Modiji talks so much about this and that but why is he afraid of a (caste) census," Gandhi asked.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the prime minister cannot sleep without mentioning the name of the Congress party.
"He spoke about nepotism, our leaders have sacrificed their lives for the country," he said.
"I want to ask Modiji - who from your party or your political descendants have sacrificed their lives for the freedom, unity and integrity of the country," Kharge asked in a post on 'X'.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said that by boasting about himself as the "biggest OBC", PM Modi has done nothing but dismiss the stark reality of the complete under-representation of OBCs in all walks of life, including the Union government.
"More importantly, he also dismissed the demand for a nationwide caste census that would expose the reality of this under-representation across all institutions.
Why is the PM so dismissive and contemptuous of the issue of social justice? The fact is that someone trained in the RSS' casteist mindset can never deliver on meaningful social justice, he can only pay lip service to it." he said on 'X'.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the prime minister has targeted the Congress a great deal.
"We ought to be flattered that he is so worried about us that he has devoted his entire speech to the Congress. He has been repeating these things for many years. Poor Nehruji died 60 years ago and yet, he (Modi) continues to sing the same lament about Nehruji. We have heard this 'naamdaar-kaamdaar' line, 'parivaar-vaad' we have heard multiple times," he said.
"It has been nothing but a repetition of tired old tropes. I must say, Modiji needs to pick up his oratory if he wants to come close to even half of the number that he is talking about today," Tharoor added.
Congress whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore asked whether Modi would refuse to take oath if the BJP secures fewer than 370 seats.
"This kind of dream of the BJP has always failed and it failed in 2004 also when it talked about India-shining. It is going to be India-shining part 2 now," he claimed.
Tagore said PM Modi can never end his speeches without mentioning Indira Gandhi and Nehru.
"We all know that his bread and butter runs on Indira Gandhi and Nehru," he added.
AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh also said, "The youths of the country are saying that today was Modiji's last speech in Parliament as the prime minister."
"#ByeByeModi is trending at number 1. People are now tired of listening to your statements. The era of 'Modani' is about to end," he said in a post in Hindi on 'X'.
Prime Minister Modi on Monday expressed confidence that the NDA will get more than 400 seats and the BJP will win at least 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
He said he was convinced that the opposition parties had lost the courage to contest the elections and had resolved to stay on the opposition benches for a long time.
"I can gauge the mood of the nation, it will definitely give NDA more than 400 seats and the BJP at least 370 seats," the prime minister said, replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on President's Address.
He said the third term of the government was not too far.
