Modi slams Rahul, asks people to choose 'dream team'
Updated
New Delhi, Sep 29 (IANS): BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Sunday attacked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for "insulting" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and asked people to choose a "dream team" in 2014 by junking the "dirty team" of Congress-led UPA.
Addressing his first - and a mammoth - rally in Delhi in his new avatar, Modi also hit out at Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for reportedly calling Manmohan Singh a "dehati aurat" (rural woman).
There was a huge turnout -- the crowds estimated at between two and five lakh -- at the sprawling Japanese Park in north Delhi, with the Gujarat chief minister cheered by an army of young supporters who kept a steady chant of "Modi! Modi!" Several diplomats also turned up to hear Modi.
Like elsewhere in the country, Modi overshadowed the local leaders of the BJP including Delhi president Vijay Goel and veterans Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Vijender Gupta. Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari was also present.
"When his own party leader calls the PM 'nonsense', how can he (PM) get respect abroad?", the Bharatiya Janata Party star asked, triggering a wild round of applause and sloganeering.
Modi was referring to Gandhi's outburst Friday against an ordinance passed by the cabinet that sought to overturn an apex court ruling disqualifying politicians convicted of crime. Gandhi had called it "complete nonsense".
Referring to Gandhi as "prince", Modi said: "If I may use a rural terminology, then Congress upadhyaksh ne pradhan mantri ki pagdi uchhal di (Gandhi has insulted the prime minister)."
In his 65-minute speech, he urged people to choose between democracy and dynasty in the next Lok Sabha election.
"There is a war between dynastic rule and democracy," he said of the Gandhis. "The dynastic rule is trying to strangle democracy. Will the country function on the basis of constitution or on the whims of the prince?
"The dynastic rule and the prince are not just insulting the prime minister but insulting the constitution, the parliament and democracy," he added.
Modi targeted growing corruption and said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was hit by "policy paralysis" and that its "non-governance" was akin to diabetes.
"For 10 years the nation has tolerated UPA. In 2014, the country needs a dream team, not a dirty team. This dirty team needs to be uprooted," he thundered, as the crowds roared.
Modi also made fun of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit but without taking her name, saying she only "cut ribbons" and passed the buck if and when things went wrong.
Attacking Sharif for describing Manmohan Singh as a "dehati aurat" (rural woman) in New York, Modi asked, raising his voice: "Nawaz Sharif, how dare you say this? What right you have to say this?"
He said that while he was ready to take on Manmohan Singh within India, he would not tolerate any attack on the prime minister by a foreigner.
"There can never be a greater insult to the Indian PM. There cannot be a greater insult to India," he said of Sharif's reported remark.
Modi's comments came hours before Manmohan Singh and Sharif are set to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Modi did not spare Manmohan Singh either, doubting his ability to raise tough questions with Sharif -- on Jammu and Kashmir and on the killings of Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops.
"I doubt if you will be able to meet Nawaz Sharif with your head held high because in the past few years you have lost your habit of speaking.
"The nation doubts if you will be able to discuss when the Pakistan- occupied Kashmir will be returned to India. The nation doubts if you will able to discuss when Pakistan will stop supporting terrorism in India."
Did Sharif insult Manmohan Singh? Journalists say 'no'
Did Nawaz Sharif call Manmohan Singh a "dehati aurat" (rural woman)? If yes, did the Pakistan prime minister mean to insult his Indian counterpart?
Once BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi made the alleged remark public at a huge rally here, journalists Hamid Mir of Pakistan and Barkha Dutt of India claimed that no offence was meant.
Mir told Geo TV that Sharif had told him and Barkha Dutt over breakfast in New York that Manmohan Singh had complained, like a "dehati aurat", about Pakistan to US President Barack Obama.
Mir felt Sharif was unhappy with Manmohan Singh.
Mir said: "Sharif smilingly told Barkha: 'Looks like Manmohan Singh went to Obama not like India's prime minister but like a dehati aurat to complain to Obama'.
He later tweeted: "PM Nawaz never said anything derogatory against Manmohan."
NDTV's Barkha Dutt added that "Sharif's allegorical account was all about how disputes should not involve third parties. Not once was a slur passed by him against the PM.
"Sharif was upset that Pakistan (was) raised by India with Obama. In this context, he told an allegorical tale...
"In Sharif's tale, there was a dispute between two villagers, one was a woman. Story ended with how fights should be settled between parties," she said in a tweet.
Modi went on to hit out at Sharif over the reported remark.
"Nawaz Sharif, how dare you say this?" Modi asked, raising his voice at a BJP rally here. "What right you have to say this?"
Modi called Sharif's remark an insult to Indian prime minister. He also demanded to know why the Indian journalist -- whose name he did not take -- at the breakfast meeting with Sharif did not storm out in protest.
Manmohan Singh and Sharif are in New York to attend the UN General Assembly. They are to meet later Sunday to discuss bilateral issues.
Congress accuses Modi of insulting prime minister
The Congress Sunday accused Narendra Modi of "insulting" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying that the BJP leader had chosen to believe a Pakistan journalist about purported remarks of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about his Indian counterpart.
Congress communication department chairman Ajay Maken said Modi had "quoted the story" of Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in his public rally here Sunday, but said it was surprising that he did not ask Indian journalists about Sharif's remarks.
"Narendra Modi quoted the story of Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir ... It is very surprising that Modi who calls himself a nationalist, didn't ask Indian journalists and believed the journalist from Pakistan. It is Narendra Modi who has insulted the prime minister," Maken said.
Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections, said at the rally that Sharif had described Manmohan Singh as a "dehati aurat" (rural woman) during a meeting in New York with Indian and Pakistani journalists.
Modi also accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of insulting Manmohan Singh by ridiculing a government-backed ordinance on convicted lawmakers.