Addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh, PM Modi said former Congress chief Sitaram Kesri was a Dalit who was ‘thrown out of office’ to make way for Sonia Gandhi.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi goofed up Sunday when he claimed that ‘Dalit’ leader Sitaram Kesri was not allowed to complete his term as Congress president and was “thrown out of office” to make way for Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress was quick to respond to this through a sarcastic tweet by senior Congress leader and spokesperson Manish Tewari.
“Kesri was a Bania OBC from Bihar & not a DALIT. However when has PM allowed facts or truth to stand in the way?” Tewari responded.
Tewari also denied that Kesri was ill-treated by the Congress.
“Cong Pres Sita Ram Kesri was treated with due respect by one and all. As someone who was involved with his legal matters btw 1996-1998 I can say it on authority. Had spent many hours with him after he resigned from AICC President. You are misinformed @narendramodi,” Tewari said.
Also read: Modi dares Congress to make someone from ‘outside the family’ party president
Chandan Yadav, the Congress’ national secretary in-charge of Chattisgarh, added: “There is certain stature associated with the prime ministerial post and the PM should not make such comments. In the past too, he has twisted facts. He is trying to mislead the people of Chhattisgarh.
“Sitaram Kesri belonged to the backward class and had received utmost respect by the Congress. People know the Modi ji can twist facts for his benefit and they no longer trust him.”
Also read: PM Modi says Dalit leader Sitaram Kesri wasn’t allowed to complete term as Congress chief
PM’s allegations
Prime Minister Modi was addressing a rally on the last day of campaigning for the second and final phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly polls. Referring to the Nehru-Gandhi family, Modi said four generations of a family ruled the country and “benefitted from being in power”, but the country did not benefit from their rule.
“Remember the days when four generations of a family ruled the country? What was the fate of the people? They only thought about the welfare of one family but never thought about the welfare of the people. How can we trust them that they will fulfil the aspirations of the people now?” Modi said.
He challenged the Congress to select someone “capable” as its president, who did not belong to “that one family”.
He claimed that three-term Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh had to face a lot of challenges from the Congress-led government at the Centre between 2004 and 2014.
Modi is nonsensically targeting Nehru-Gandhi family.
Dynastism is as old as rajas/maharajas in India.
Trust the Congress to miss the wood for the trees. What really matters is NOT whether Kesri was an OBC or Dalit. The Nehru-Gandhi family oriented Congress party has never allowed a person outside this family to hold the post of PM and President of the party. There are exceptions but, in all cases, they were eased out to make way for someone from the ‘Family’. P V Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri were PM and President respectively for long periods but, both were sent packing with PV almost disgraced and made to look like an outcast, and Kesri left a broken man, who died soon after. Over the 71 years after independence, no leader in Congress, regardless of his achievements, is given any due that may be seen as ‘eclipsing’ the real or illusory ‘greatness’ of anyone from the family. THIS is the essential point of Modi’s comment, and Congress is only indulging in nitpicking, deliberately obscuring the bitter truth. There is NO inner democracy or Freedom of expression in Congress, when it comes to safeguarding the cocooned interests of the “Family”.
Mr. Pradhaan sevak is a perfect person to fit into the definition of demagogue and a trained fact distorter and distractor. The education system is going from poor to worst under his regime. The poors are becoming poorer and he is happy with that. His acts invite attention to the reminisce of feuhrer
As much as RahulG is a janeudhaari, Kesariji was a dalit.
No shit! Congress abused an OBC and not a Dalit. VOTE FOR CONGRESS.
The PM is obsessed with the Congress and the Gandhi family. How long will the nation have to hear his tirades against the Congress. Way back I remember Standard Batteries had an ad – ‘Why is the Standard Battery like a mother-in-law? Because it keeps going on and on and on…’
We have a mother-in-law here. Please spare us this rhetoric. Arnab should remind him that the Nation wants to know – the nation wants to know the facts of the Rafale matter, the nation wants to know why has the CBI been manipulated so badly and why have all these corrupt officials been hand-picked and appointed by the PMO, the nation wants to know why is the autonomy of all constitutional institutions subverted. And about prices, and NPAs and employment and ………..Please think of the youth of this nation. They don’t want to be a party to your enmity with the Congress. Tell us what you are doing to take this nation forward…
The traditional liar Nehru-Gandhi family is now execusing on OBC/Dalit difference. It is true that the foreign born lady has taken the advantage of Indian Hindu culture of welcoming her into India and gave all respect that she cannot dream of getting in any other country. She is so crude that she returned this by looting India public exchequer and she made India a country of scams and corruptions. She just made the congress party a only family party. As long as she is in India and with the congress party she would not allow India coming out of corruptions and scams.
Mr Modi’s “positive” achievements in 5 years should have been so noteworthy that there shouldn’t have been even a need to talk about “the family”. What we see is that EVEN TODAY, five years later, the Gandhi family is the cornerstone of all Narendra Modi speeches. This is a single complete and conclusive evidence of the failure of Modi government’s entire 5 years.
Mr Modi may or may not believe it. But it is for everyone to see that the attendees of his election meetings look more amused than elated when Mr Modi unleashes anti-congress diatribe. He himself looks a spent force. I wish him good health in coming months.
I agree. The bar set by the Congress Party is pretty low not to mention the general loathing the Gandhi family attracts from the Middle-class.
There was so much hope on the PM when he was voted to office. Not to mention the fact that his opponent was Rahul Gandhi, a mild mannered, bumbling young man who was yet to find his feet in politics.
At the fag end of his tenure what we get to hear from him is tired old rhetoric, cliches which evoke derision, and name calling of opponents. What a waste!
Brings to mind Deve Gowda’s classic remark, An old man in a hurry …