Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “scared of Donald Trump” after the US President once again claimed credit for ending hostilities between India and Pakistan.
"Modi is scared of Donald Trump. The US President has said at least 50 times that he scared Narendra Modi and stopped ‘Operation Sindoor’. Yet, not a single word has come from Modi’s mouth. Trump is insulting our Prime Minister almost every day — going from country to country claiming that Narendra Modi bowed before him, that he made him surrender. And still, Modi remains silent,” the Congress MP said while addressing his maiden election rally in Bihar’s Darbhanga.
Rahul compared Modi’s leadership with that of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“In 1971, during the Bangladesh war, Indira Gandhi had clearly told the American President — ‘We are not afraid of you.’ That’s what real leadership looks like…He’s (Trump) talking about our air defences, and our Prime Minister cannot even say, ‘No, that’s not true. Trump, you are lying,’” the Congress leader said.
Rahul challenged Modi that when he visits Bihar next, he should say Trump is lying. “A leader who cannot even muster the courage to say that Trump is lying can never bring prosperity or development to Bihar,” Rahul said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump had said: “I said to Prime Minister Modi, a very nice man, a very good man, and the Field Marshal over in Pakistan, Look, we're not going to do any trade if you're going to be fighting.. (They said) one thing has nothing to do with the other. I said this, it has a lot to do with the other …two nuclear powers…we get that nuclear dust all over the place. All of you are affected, right? And we said, No, we're not doing any deals if you're going to fight. And within about 24 hours, that was the end of that. It was amazing, actually.”
Speaking from another rally at Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, the Congress leader accused Modi of doing “anything for votes.”
“If you tell Narendra Modi to dance in exchange for your votes, he will dance on stage,” Gandhi said. “Modi went to bathe in his swimming pool. He has nothing to do with the Yamuna or with Chhath Puja. He just wants your vote.”
Gandhi also accused the BJP of vote theft from his rally.
“Theft of votes is an assault on the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar. We are committed to protecting the Constitution,” he said, alleging that the BJP had “stolen” elections in Maharashtra and Haryana and would attempt the same in Bihar.
Rahul also accused CM Nitish Kumar of being “remote controlled” by the BJP from the Muzaffarpur rally.
“The government in Bihar is being run through remote control. They are simply using the face of Nitish Kumar,” he said.
Union home minister Amit Shah, addressing a rally in Darbhanga, hit back at the Opposition, calling the INDIA bloc a “thug bandhan” and accused RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi of pushing dynastic ambitions.
“Lalu Prasad wants to make his son Tejashwi the chief minister of Bihar and Sonia Gandhi wants to make her son Rahul the Prime Minister. Both posts are not vacant,” Shah said.