Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera in a press meeting on February 17 addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘Gautam Das Modi’. He later tweeted about the incident calling it a ‘genuine confusion’.
A video of Khera addressing the PM on his silence over the Adani-Hindenburg issue has gone viral. #GautamDasModi was trending on top at the time of writing this article.
“Why are you running away from a debate in Parliament? Why are you scared of JPC (Joint Parliament Committee)? Even PV Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee set up JPC during their stints as prime ministers. What problem does Narendra ‘Gautam Das’, ‘Damodadar Das’ have with JPC? It is Damodardas right,” Khera looks at his colleague.
When people corrected him, he pauses and quips, “His name is Damodardas but deeds are of ‘Gautam Das'” leading to laughter in the press room.
Later, Khera tweeted stating it was a genuine mistake. “I genuinely got confused whether it is Damodardas or Gautam Das….” he tweeted.
The BJP is not happy with Khera’s remarks. On Monday, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said that PM Modi is always targeted for his humble origins.
Reacting to the incident, Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday, at a poll rally in Nagaland, said, “Congress is definitely going to get extinct this time.”
“The language used by a Congress spokesperson for PM Modi is not his statement, but a statement that’s in accordance with Rahul Gandhi’s nature. Rahul Gandhi used abusive language for PM Modi in 2019 and as a result Congress lost its Opposition status,” Shah said.
FIR registered against Khera
Latest reports suggest that BJP leader Mukesh Sharma has lodged an FIR against the senior Congress leader for “making unsavory remarks against the father of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. The FIR has been registered at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
#GautamDasModi trending on Twitter
Ever since the video went viral, #GautamDasModi has been trending on Twitter with 4,732 tweets when this article was written. Many have lauded Khera’s remarks.
