Indian PM under fire for ‘widow’ remark
He had made the comments at a campaign rally in Jaipur
Dubai: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is receiving a lot of flak on social media for his recent comments at a campaign rally in Jaipur, India.
The comments were made last Tuesday, according to Indian media reports, but belatedly created a furore on social media. While addressing the gathering, Modi criticised the previous Congress-led governments, saying they were now upset because they were not able to make money anymore. He went on to call out the compensations scheme for widows, alleging that girls that were never born got married, became widows and benefitted from the compensations. He then added: “Who was that Congress’s widow in whose account this money used to go?” Many took the comment as a direct jibe at Congress leader Sonia Gandhi who is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi.
Many tweeps criticised the Prime Minister for the words used, calling it a low point in India’s political discourse.
Tweep @RoshanKrRai shared the video that has now gone viral, adding, “Listen to the speech and judge the man yourself.”
Other tweeps used the hashtag #ModiInsultsWomen to react to the viral video. Tweep @Gursatinder68 analysed the impact it would have on the government’s prospects in the upcoming general elections, arguing that it would be one of three reasons the government loses power, along with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Rafale scandal.
Another Twitter user @pallavijha added: “It’s embarrassing and humiliating to have a man with such coarse language and even coarser thinking to be the PM. This has to change for the sake of India’s dignity and cultural tradition of decency.”
Some found it odd that the Prime Minister also wished Gandhi on her birthday on December 9.