New Delhi: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday came down heavily on the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi over his ‘abominable and unacceptable’ act, mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-publicised embraces with foreign leaders and said that his behaviour was grossly inappropriate and unbecoming of the position that he holds.
“Through this conduct, Rahul Gandhi has not only insulted Prime Minister Modi but has also insulted India’s international reputation, and has torn apart the dignity of democracy and the position of Leader of the Opposition,” the Defence Minister said in a video statement.
He said that it was astonishing and beyond imagination to see that a person with the Rahul Gandhi surname attached to him could stoop to such low-level and shameful conduct.
At the Rachnatmak Congress national convention yesterday, Rahul Gandhi attacked the Modi government’s foreign policy. He mockingly aped the Prime Minister’s embraces with foreign leaders by staging a hug with fellow Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit.
Dikshit then pulled Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni into the exchange, turning the occasion into a crass and inappropriate moment that could have remained a political satire.
Taking strong exception to Rahul’s theatrics, Rajnath Singh said that such an “extremely low-level and condemnable act has personally caused him immense pain”. He said that such behaviour was beyond imagination.
“In my long political life, I have never seen any Leader of the Opposition—whether it was Sushma ji or Arun Jaitley ji, or Atal ji and Advani ji, or in Atal ji’s government, Dr. Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi ji—engage in such unseemly conduct; it was beyond imagination,” he said.
“Such conduct is a serious warning sign for a healthy democracy in India,” he added.
Defence Minister further said that the Congress leader may have harboured resentment against the Prime Minister, but such acts and attacks have left every Indian distressed and disturbed from within.
“We have a Prime Minister who has elevated India’s stature on the international stage and paved the way for a developed India. Such indecent remarks against such a leader are deeply distressing to every Indian’s heart from within,” he said in the video statement.
Recalling towering Congress personalities like Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Rajendra Prasad, he asked how the grand old party could now have the morality to claim their legacy after such abhorrent conduct.
(IANS)
