After ‘panauti’ jibe, Rahul likens Modi to 'pickpocket'

NT Correspondent

Dholpur/New Delhi: Congress MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi likened Prime Minis - ter Narendra Modi to a 'pickpocket' at an election rally in Dholpur district in poll-bound Rajasthan on Wednesday.

The comments come in the backdrop of the Congress bigwig labeling Modi a ‘panauti’, a Hindi word which means bringer of bad luck. He’d done so in another election speech in the same state a day prior.

Without naming anyone Gandhi had mockingly claimed that the Indian team was supposed to win the cricket world cup but the ‘panauti’ had ensured they lost.

On Wednesday however, Gandhi resorted to using an old stick that he uses to beat Modi with, alleging that the PM was responsible for billionaire and 'friend' Gautam Adani raking in an inordinate amount of wealth while the poor of the country grew poorer.

“You know pickpockets come in groups of three. They never come alone. The first one tries to distract you by saying something unusual. Then the second person, working in tandem, with the first comes along and picks your pocket. Meanwhile, the third person keeps an eye on the victim. He monitors the victim to see if he is resisting. If he does, then the third one threatens the victim. This is the way pickpockets operate. In this case, the one who diverts attention is Narendra Modi. The person who is pickpocketing is Adani. The person who threatens is Amit Shah,” Gandhi said to the amusement of the crowd.

Fuming BJP writes to EC

The BJP however, is not pleased with the repeated digs and has demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) take “appropriate legal action” against Gandhi.

A party delegation, comprising of general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agarwal and Om Pathak, demanded that the ECI act against Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge as well for falsely claiming that Modi’s ‘Ghanchi’ caste was included in Gujarat’s Other Backward Classes (OBCs) list when the latter was CM of the state.

“The community, traditionally employed in oil pressing, was included in the OBC list in 1999 while Modi became chief minister in 2001,” Pathak said.