At a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party’s motormouth ministers have provided much mirth with some rather far-fetched claims, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unwittingly provided fodder for the trolls on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as the ‘Nelson Mandela of Independent India’.
The remark attracted a lot of ridicule on social media.
The PM was addressing a gathering during Loktantra Prahari Abhinandan – a programme organised to commemorate the 113th birth anniversary of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan in the Capital.
He said it was unfortunate that very few people in the country were aware of the fact that in free India, Badal had been jailed for around two decades solely for political reasons.
He added that this ‘great personality’ had suffered just for opposing those in power.
Modi went on to describe Badal as the ‘Nelson Mandela of free India’.
“Badal sahab is sitting here… he is the Nelson Mandela of India. The only crime of people like Badal sahab is that they had political views different from those in power,” he said.
Soon after the statement, social media was abuzz with posts ridiculing the PM’s comment.
Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Capt. Amarinder Singh took to Twitter to take a dig at Modi.
#YoBadalSoMandela “Who says our PM has no sense of humour. Let’s hope, like Mandela, Bharat Ratna/Nobel Prize next for Badal”
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) October 11, 2015
Amarinder pointed out that Mandela had spent 27 years in jail, in isolation and solitary confinement fighting against apartheid. In contrast, Badal may not have spent a total of even 27 months in jail, and most of the time in luxury and hospitality of the government. “Most of the jail terms of Badal were voluntary as he would always hide behind the safety and the hospitality of the government guesthouses after sparking trouble in Punjab,” he said. Former Punjab deputy chief minister and Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal also criticised the PM for comparing Badal to Mandela, saying that it was an insult to the South African leader. Claiming that Badal had gone to jail only for political gain, she said Modi should give details about Badal’s jail terms so that the people of the country know about them. The PM got trolled on Twitter with the hashtag #YoBadalSoMandela. User @Komal_Indian tweeted a quote by South African legend laying emphasis on education. She said just ‘replace education with drugs’ for it to become a Badal quote.
Just replace ‘education’ in this Mandela quote with ‘drugs’..u will get a Badal quote ? #YoBadalSoMandela pic.twitter.com/VSOYD2lfCo
— कोमल 🙂 (@Komal_Indian) October 11, 2015
Some even compared Modi to ‘Pappu’ (Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi). One user wrote, “With this statement Sri Narendra Modi ji proved that there is no difference between him and Rahul Gandhi.. #YoBadalSoMandela @PMOIndia.” “With so many election rallies, looks like Modi has run out of logical/sensible arguments to convince voters!” another one tweeted.
If #YoBadalSoMandela then Anu Malik composes original songs… — Ankit Lal (@ankitlal) October 11, 2015
Waiting for @narendramodi to say @AmitShahOffice reminds him of Martin Luther King #YoBadalSoMandelahttps://t.co/L4IREURdUa
— Preeti Sharma Menon (@aapkipreeti) October 11, 2015