Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused an “arrogant” Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not listening to the people and instead thrusting his “mann ki baat” on them.
Launching the Congress’s election campaign in Kerala at a rally on the beach in Kozhikode, Rahul ripped apart Modi and his perceived style of ignoring the people’s voice.
“The Prime Minister’s job is not to tell the nation his mann ki baat. The Prime Minister’s job is to listen to the mann ki baat of the people,” the Congress leader said, referring to Modi’s radio show and evoking rapturous cheer from the lakhs of people who had thronged the venue.
“The Prime Minister’s job is to be so humble and to reduce himself so much that the poorest and weakest man is heard by him. So what we have seen over the last five years is the governance of mann ki baat, one man’s mann ki baat,” added Rahul.
Comparing the country to an ocean, Rahul said the Congress wanted to listen to the ocean.
“Now on the other side there is (the) BJP and (the) RSS. They want to tell India what to do. They have an ideology which they are convinced about and they want to tell everyone in India that ideology is the truth,” he said.
“And our Prime Minister… the only thing he does is that every week he tells the country what he thinks, like a man who gets up in the morning and tells the ocean what he thinks,” Rahul added.
“Week after week the man gets up and comes in front of the ocean and tells what he thinks. And what the man does not realise is that the ocean does not care what he thinks. Can you imagine the arrogance of such a man?” the Congress chief went on.
A great country of a billion people, different ideas, systems, religions and cultures and a history of thousands of years and yet Modi keeps talking about what he thinks, Rahul said.
“Who do you think you are that this ocean wants to think your mann ki baat? Where have you got so much arrogance from that this ocean wants to listen to you?”
Rahul recalled his interaction with fisherfolk in Thrissur earlier in the day and Wednesday’s interaction with 3,000 students at Stella Maris College in Chennai.
“You can see the difference. I stand in front of the press every week and they ask me whatever question they want,” he said, taking a jibe at Modi who has never addressed a media conference since assuming office five years ago.
At the All India Fishermen Congress ‘Parliament’ earlier in the day, Rahul said the most important duty of a government was to give a voice to the people.
“So, for example in today’s government Anil Ambani and Nirav Modi have a lot of voice. Whatever they want to say to the Prime Minister can be said in 10 seconds. And they don’t have to shout, they can even whisper and the message goes,” he said, adding such privileges were not available to the common people.