'Mausi ji, moral victory toh hai na': PM Modi invokes 'Sholay' scene to mock Congress
New Delhi, Jul 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday invoked an iconic scene from Hindi movie 'Sholay' to mock the Congress, saying that despite losing the Lok Sabha polls for a third time, the grand old party's refrain was -- "mausi ji, it is a moral victory after all".
In a scathing attack on the Congress in his address in the Lok Sabha, Modi also called it "parjeevi (parasitic)" party and claimed that it ate into the votes of its allies.
"The statements of Congress leaders have even surpassed film Sholay. You all would remember Mausi ji from the film. Teesri baar toh haare hain par Mausi ji, moral victory toh hai na (we have lost third time but Mausi ji, it is a moral victory).
"Arey Mausi 13 rajyon mein zero seat aayi hai par hero to hai na (Mausi, we got zero seats in 13 states but I am a hero)," he said.
"Party ki lutiya toh duboyi hai, arey Mausi party abhi saansein toh le rahi hai (Have sunk the party but it is still breathing)," Modi said.
His reference was to the iconic comic scene from 'Sholay' in which Amitabh Bachchan's character goes to speak with the 'mausi' (aunt) of the character played by Hema Malini. He seeks Malini's hand for marriage with his friend played by Dharmendra and keeps mentioning the vices of his friend while defending them simultaneously, giving hilarious reasons.
In his address, Modi urged the Congress not to suppress the mandate under the garb of "fake victory celebrations".
"Do not drown the mandate in intoxication of fake victory. Honestly understand and accept the mandate of the people," he said.
"I don't know if the Congress allies have done an analysis of the polls. This election is also a message for these allies. The Congress will be known as the Parjeevi Congress party from 2024," Modi said.
"Parjeevi" is one who feeds on the body it resides in and the Congress eats up the votes of the party it allies with while prospering at the cost of its ally, the PM said.
"I am calling it parasitic on the basis of facts. Wherever the Congress and the BJP were in a direct contest or where the Congress was the major partner, its strike rate there is 26 per cent. But where it was a junior partner, in such states, its strike rate was 50 per cent," Modi said.
On most of the 99 seats it won, Congress' allies helped it win that is why it is a "parjeevi", the prime minister said.
"In 16 states where it fought alone, its vote share went down. In Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh the Congress fought on its own and won two out of 66 seats. This means that the Congress in these polls had become parasitic and rode on the shoulder of its allies to increase its tally," Modi said.
If the Congress would not have eaten up the votes of its allies, it would have been difficult for it to win even these many seats.
No one trolls like PM .@narendramodi Ji!🔥
— BhikuMhatre (@MumbaichaDon) July 2, 2024
"The statements of CONgress leaders have surpassed even the film Sholay. You all must remember Mausi ji from the film Sholay... Are Mausi ji 13 Rajyon me zero seat aayi hai to kya hua hero to hai na..." 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/5wEQftMCAY
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Kejriwal resorting to 'vendetta politics', says BJP after MP Sandeep Pathak booked
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Saturday accused Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of vendetta politics after Punjab Police booked Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who recently defected to the BJP.
In an X post, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that Kejriwal is misusing the Punjab Police to settle political scores, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has become a party to it.
"Two FIRs have been filed against Sandeep Pathak, who until recently was in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary (organisation). What is baffling is the shameless, brazen vendetta politics being pursued by Arvind Kejriwal, with Bhagwant Mann complicit in it," Poonawalla said.
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"It is clear this has been done out of vendetta politics by Kejriwal, who is extremely vengeful and vindictive, and misuses the Punjab Police to pursue such political vendetta," he alleged.
Questioning the timing of the FIRs, Poonawalla said, "If these cases existed from the beginning, why were FIRs not filed earlier? If he was corrupt, why was he kept in the party for so long, especially when he was the general secretary (organisation)? Has any new material surfaced in the last few days, or has the alleged corruption occurred only now?"
He alleged that Kejriwal has an "old habit" of targeting political opponents and dissenters.
"We have seen how he has used the police against rivals, including Congress leaders. This is his old habit," Poonawalla said, referring to the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh's security.
Poonawalla claimed that several leaders who had left AAP over the years, including Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Alka Lamba, were "hounded".
He accused the party of failing to introspect.
"Instead of introspecting on how they have changed -- from Anna to Lalu, from Lokpal to corruption -- they are indulging in vendetta politics, trying to victimise people using the strong arm of the law. This reflects an Emergency-like mindset and a dictatorial, Hitlerian mindset," he said.
According to sources, two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections.
No further details about the FIRs have been disclosed yet.
On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party has strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Of the seven MPs -- who were Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- six were from Punjab.
Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing AAP's strength in the Upper House to three.
