Meerut: Launching a blistering attack on the Congress over its “shirtless” protest at the recently concluded AI Summit in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the party of turning a global event into an arena for “dirty and shameless politics,” as its conduct “brought embarrassment” to the country before foreign dignitaries.
Addressing a public gathering after inaugurating the Namo Bharat Rapid Rail and the Meerut Metro route, PM Modi said, “Congress turned India’s global event into an arena for its dirty and shameless politics. At the venue, in front of foreign guests, Congress leaders arrived stripping off their clothes. I ask the Congress people– everyone already knows you are politically naked, then what was the need to remove your clothes? What Congress leaders did there shows how ideologically bankrupt and impoverished the country’s oldest party has become.”
He said the AI Impact Summit was not a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) event, but a matter of national pride and the entire country condemned Congress’s conduct.
“Congress leaders hate Modi. They want to dig my grave, they have no hesitation in insulting my mother, they oppose the BJP, and they oppose the NDA. Fine, if that is necessary for their politics, we can understand and tolerate it. But Congress should have remembered that the AI Global Summit was not a BJP event, nor was any BJP leader present there. It was a national event, a matter of national pride, built on the sweat of the people. Yet Congress broke all boundaries of decency,” PM Modi added.
“The entire country is condemning Congress’s conduct. But unfortunately, instead of feeling ashamed, the leaders of such an old party are shamelessly cheering those who insulted the nation,” he added.
In a stinging rebuke against the Congress protest, PM Modi also accused sections of the national media of “shielding the Congress” and appealed to the national media to “report accurately.”
“When we criticise such actions, please don’t make headlines like ‘Modi slammed the opposition.’ Stop these tricks to protect Congress. By calling it ‘the opposition,’ you save Congress, while other opposition parties suffer. Congress commits the sin, but others pay the price…Why are you protecting Congress?” he stated.
He asserted that Congress allies had distanced themselves following the incident. “Congress has become a burden on the nation. I publicly thank these opposition allies for standing with the truth and with the pride of the nation.”
The Prime Minister contrasted the “poisonous politics” of Congress and other parties with the BJP’s development-focused governance. Citing infrastructure growth.
“Before 2014, metro services reached only 5 cities. But today, metro trains are running in more than 25 cities across the country. India has now become the third-largest metro network in the world,” he added.
In Meerut, PM Modi inaugurated both the Namo Bharat Rapid Rail and the Metro service from the same platform, calling it a first-of-its-kind initiative. “For the first time in the country, Namo Bharat and Metro Rail will run on the same station, the same track. From one platform, you can travel within the city, and from the same station, you can go directly to Delhi,” he said.
