At his rally in Adilabad, Telangana, on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined a new slogan “Main Hoon Modi Ka Parivar” (I am part of Modi’s family). This slogan is similar to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when Modi had coined a slogan “Main Bhi Chowkidar” (I am also a Chowkidar). It was the opposition which gave Modi a handle to coin both these slogans. In 2019, Rahul Gandhi had alleged “Chowkidar Chor Hai”, and Modi replied with the slogan “Main Bhi Chowkidar”.
This time, on Sunday, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, while addressing a big rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan, lashed out at Modi for raising dynastic politics issue. Lalu said, “Modi has no family of his own”. The crowd erupted in joy when Lalu made this remark. On Monday, Modi hit out with “Modi Parivar” slogan, and the opposition leaders are now searching for a riposte. At his rallies in Telangana and Tamil Nadu, Modi said, “I left my home when I was young… I wanted to make the entire nation my family..My aim was to fulfil the dreams of my countrymen..For me, all of you are members of my family.” Soon afterwards BJP president J P Nadda, central ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, and almost all top BJP leaders and workers added “Modi Ka Parivar” to their name on social media handles. The issue of dynastic politics may seem to be a minor one, but opposition leaders in Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, UP, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh will have to face questions about their families.
Normally, Prime Minister Modi never attacks any political rival personally, but the RJD supremo had launched a personal attack on Modi and his family, which was against the norms of political decency. Modi did not lose time in declaring that 140 crore Indians were his family members. In Patna, a complaint was filed at Gandhi Maidan station against Lalu Yadav for making this remark against Modi. There were protests by BJP workers in several states. In cricket parlance, we can say that Modi hit a ‘sixer’ to a full-toss ball from Lalu Yadav. I am surprised why top opposition leaders have so far failed to understand Modi till now. Let me remind them that since last year’s August 15 speech from Red Fort, Modi had been addressing people as “Mere Parivarjan” (my family members) in all his speeches. It seems opposition leaders have failed to understand the line that Modi is taking. By raising the issue of Modi’s family, Lalu Yadav made the same mistake which Rahul Gandhi did five years ago by saying “Chowkidar Chor Hai”. Nobody can beat Modi on such issues. Modi works like a full-time Prime Minister, and never gives any preference to his brothers, nephews and nieces.
All the leaders sitting on the dais at the anti-Modi rally in Patna on Sunday are part-time politicians. Lalu Yadav wants to crown his son Tejashwi as chief minister. Sonia Gandhi wants to see her son Rahul has Prime Minister. M.K. Stalin wants to anoint his son Udhay Nidhi as chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Sharad Pawar is worried about his daughter Supriya Sule’s future. Uddhav Thackeray’s perennial worry is about his son Aditya. Late Mulayam Singh Yadav handed over all his worries to his son Akhilesh. Akhilesh Yadav fielded his wife, uncle, brother and nephews in politics. How can these leaders counter Modi on the issue of dynastic politics? Let me tell you about Modi’s biological family. Modi has five brothers and a sister. He is third in the line of siblings. His eldest brother Somabhai Modi used to work in Gujarat’s health department. He retired 20 years ago. The second brother is Amrit Modi, who used to work at a private fabrication plant. He, too, has retired. Narendra Modi has two younger brothers – Prahlad Modi, who runs a PDS ration shop. The youngest brother is Pankaj Modi, who worked in Gujarat government’s information department. He retired nine years ago. Modi has a sister, Basantiben, who lives in Visnagar with her family. All these brothers and sister have nothing to do with politics. Forget Modi’s brothers and sister. Even his nephews and nieces have nothing to do with politics.
All these family members have been expressly told not to disclose their relationship to Narendra Modi in public. After Modi became PM, Prahlad Modi’s daughter once lost her purse in Delhi. She lodged a complaint with Delhi Police, but did not tell them that she was the niece of the Prime Minister. So, the slogan that will be heard for the next two months across India will be “Poora Desh, Modi Ka Parivar”. Naturally, people will then ask about the families of opposition leaders, and they will have a lot to explain.
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