A possible Freudian slip by the Centre that told the nation its “hamare do” are “Adani and Ambani” got Rahul Gandhi a laugh and much real estate on social media. But beneath the wisecrack lay a political cut and thrust that Parliament had almost forgotten.

The occasion on Thursday was the discussion on the general budget in the Lok Sabha. But Rahul spoke only on the contentious farm laws, ambushing the government after it had denied a separate debate on the ongoing farmers’ movement despite the Opposition’s passionate pleas and tumultuous protests.

By the time Rahul had concluded by declaring he would not touch upon the budget in protest against the denial of a separate debate on farmers, he had landed several lethal punches.

One, Rahul addressed a direct reply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been saying no Opposition leader has explained what is wrong with the farm laws. “The Prime Minister had said the Opposition is talking about the protests but is not talking about the content and intent of the laws. So I thought today, let’s make the Prime Minister happy and talk about the content and intent of the farm laws,” Rahul said, springing the topic.

Two, his cheek ensured that the treasury benches tried their best to thwart him by shouting. Unwittingly, the government ended up giving the impression that it did not have the courage to discuss the farm laws.

With an audacious call for a two-minute silence, Rahul led an unparalleled expression of solidarity with the farmers from the floor of the House. The government, which has been religiously ignoring the deaths of scores of protesting farmers, again ended up looking cold-hearted.

The talking point swirled around the “hum do, hamare do” slogan Rahul had borrowed from the family planning campaign.

Amid uproarious protests by BJP members who insisted that the Congress leader could not be allowed to raise the farm laws while discussing the budget, Rahul said: “Like corona’s new strains, the family planning slogan of ‘hum do, hamare do’ has re-emerged. Only four persons are running this country — hum do, hamare do.”

As BJP members rose in protest and Opposition MPs burst into an “Adani-Ambani” chorus, Rahul said: “Naam sab jaante hain (Everybody knows the names). Those beautiful, chubby pictures you must have seen on the hoardings of ‘hum do, hamare do’. Now this is about four people running the country.”

The Congress MP’s insinuation hung mischievously in the Lok Sabha air.

Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi leapt to his feet and said, interrupting Rahul: “It is wrong to say that 40 per cent storage capacity is with Adani and Ambani. He will have to prove his allegation.”

Ripples of laughter flowed through the Opposition benches.

Rahul recalled Modi’s complaint 24 hours earlier that the Opposition was not discussing the “content and intent” of the new farm legislation bouquet and proceeded to critique them, law by law.

“The first law says anybody can buy food grain as much as he wants. The objective is to finish off the mandis (wholesale markets),” the Congress MP said.

He added: “The second law allows the big corporate (entities) to store unlimited amounts of grains, vegetables and fruits. There is no stock limit. The intent is to start unlimited hoarding in the country by killing the Essential Commodities Act.

“The intent of the third law is to prevent farmers from approaching the courts in case of disputes. The real intent is to allow one corporate friend to sell everything — which will finish off small farmers and traders — and to allow another corporate friend to create storage monopoly. The Prime Minister said it is optional. He has of course given three options — One, hunger; two, unemployment; and three, suicide.”

Contending that the plan was to hand over the agriculture business, worth Rs 40 lakh crore, to “hamare do”, Rahul said: “Unlimited storage will allow manipulation of prices. They are conspiring to break the backbone of India. They are breaking the backbone into pieces to be handed over to two friends. This will destroy the rural economy and India’s food security. This is not the first attempt; Modi started it with note-bandi and continued it during the corona-induced lockdown.”

The Congress MP warned the government against presuming that the farmers would end their protest. “Do not commit the mistake that this is a farmers’ protest. Farmers are only showing the way; this is a people’s movement. If you think you can suppress the poor and the kisan-mazdoor with your power and money, you are mistaken. The people will remove you from power. The government will have to withdraw the farm laws.”

Rahul wrapped up his speech by appealing to all the members to stand in silence for two minutes as the government had refused to pay homage to the over 200 farmers who have died in protest.

While most of the Opposition members promptly stood up, the BJP continued to protest loudly.

This prompted Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who had repeatedly intervened to ask Rahul to speak on the budget, to say: “It is my responsibility to conduct the proceedings. Your conduct was not good. It was not dignified behaviour. We all respect farmers, soldiers; people have died in the Uttarkhand tragedy…. You could have asked me for a condolence motion.”

Congress leaders stoutly defended Rahul’s conduct, asserting that parliamentarians would have to invent ways to raise critical concerns if legitimate parliamentary devices to express public sentiment in the House were not allowed.

Rahul, too, said: “We wanted a debate on farmers. The Speaker consulted the government. But the government did not allow the debate.”