New Delhi: You must refer to the newly-minted alliance of 26 opposition parties as “Ghamandia” or arrogant, not INDIA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a group of NDA MPs Thursday. He also asked them not to speak out of turn or create unnecessary controversies.
“Many times I see some people give knowledge even on Chandrayaan or things they have no knowledge about just because there is a mic in front of them. One should avoid speaking on every subject, and should restrict to speaking only on those subjects on which he has a command or if the party asks him to,” a BJP leader quoted Modi as saying.
The prime minister cited the example of senior BJP leader and former foreign minister late Sushma Swaraj who he said was very knowledgeable but restricted herself to commenting on matters related to her ministry and adhered to the party line, the leader added.
The BJP has divided its 430 NDA MPs (from both Houses of Parliament) into 11 groups for them to attend meetings chaired by the prime minister till 10 August.
On Thursday, Modi held meetings with MPs from Bihar followed by another meeting with MPs from Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh, among others.
One of the meetings took place at the Parliament annex and the other at the Garvi Gujarat complex in New Delhi and were also attended by BJP national president J.P. Nadda and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
“PM Modi ji asked all of us to rise above caste politics in Bihar and work. He asked us to be the leader of all sections of society and end casteist politics. He said we don’t indulge in caste politics,” a senior BJP leader from Bihar told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
During the meeting, the prime minister also came down heavily on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who walked out of the NDA last August and is now playing a frontal role in the INDIA alliance of opposition parties. “Even after Nitish Kumar got fewer seats, we made him the chief minister thrice. This time too, he was made the chief minister in spite of getting fewer seats, whereas he did not deserve it, but in spite of that he was made the chief minister. This is the spirit of sacrifice of the NDA. Only NDA can give a stable government (to the country),” Modi was quoted as saying by the BJP leader quoted earlier.
According to sources in the BJP, the prime minister also asked the MPs to share at least 25 short videos daily on social media to highlight the work done by the central government.
In the second meeting with MPs from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, among others, sources said Modi also stressed on the fact that leaders should increase their social media presence to reach out to the public, especially the youth. “What we did for nine years is fine, but now for one year we should go on the ground among the public and talk about the government’s various schemes,” he was quoted as saying by the BJP leader.
The Prime Minister further termed the alliance of opposition parties as a coalition of arrogant people. “Don’t call them INDIA but Ghamandiya (arrogant),” he is said to have told the MPs in attendance. Modi also slammed the opposition front as a den of corruption and asked MPs to highlight the schemes of the Centre that he said have transformed the lives of Indians, especially the poorer sections of the society.
The prime minister termed the NDA as an alliance built on ‘sacrifice’ — “unlike INDIA”, which he said has been brought about by “opportunism”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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