Mamata takes a dig at PM Modi, says he is impressed with name I.N.D.I.A. | India News

NEW DELHI: Not just the Congress but also the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for mocking the acronym INDIA, standing for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance and named by the bloc of 26 opposition parties in Bengaluru on July 18.

Reacting to the PM’s remarks, West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said he is impressed with the name INDIA.
“Thanks to our prime minister, I believe he is impressed with the name ‘INDIA’. He has accepted it. The public has also accepted the name. You all always question, therefore, he had to answer something. When the India team steps on the field to play, people say ‘India, India’. Does someone say ‘Mujahideen’ during the game?”

She further said, “What is the name of our country? India. What is your motherland? We write India. So, India, India, India. The more they link hateful words with INDIA, the more we will assume that he is impressed with the name.”
TMC leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien said the PM and the BJP had got rattled by the name INDIA and, therefore, they are attacking it.
He said, “Mr Modi and the BJP are completely rattled after they have heard the name I.N.D.I.A. They are in reactive mode. They have no good response. That is why he is coming up with all these crazy explanations. The name is strong. It is I.N.D.I.A. Mr Modi and the BJP, may be for the first time since 2014, they do not have an answer.”
Derek asked the PM to come to Parliament and speak on Manipur violence. “Instead of going and giving all these gyan outside Parliament, Mr Modi, come here. This is Parliament. We are waiting for the last four days to speak on Manipur. Come and speak. Your choice – Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. We will welcome you. Open the debate. We know you are on the backfoot after the (opposition’s) Patna and Bengaluru summits.”

The opposition, including the Congress and the TMC, are protesting in both the Houses and are not allowing them to function to press for their demand of the PM making a statement inside Parliament.
The TMC said in a tweet, “PM @narendramodi’s comparison of a political alliance to a terrorist group is a desperate move to divert public mind from the Manipur crisis. Instead of talking outside Parliament, we challenge him to discuss the Manipur issue in the house. Prioritise people over politics!”
TMC Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra too asked Modi to face the opposition inside Parliament. “Enough PM Saab – comparing INDIA to banned terrorist organisations neither behoves your office nor your dignity. Parliament is in session. Why don’t you use the fraction of bravado you exhibit outside the House inside it and actually face INDIA?”
Earlier in the day, during the BJP parliamentary party meeting, Prime Minister Modi called the opposition alliance INDIA as the most directionless the country had ever seen, and cited reviled names such as East India Company and Indian Mujahideen to assert that people cannot be misled merely by the use of the country’s name.
The PM cited the history of several organisations, including some banned extremist and terror outfits using the country’s name, and panned the grouping as a collection of corrupt leaders and parties.
Even the Indian National Congress, the main opposition party, was named so by an Englishman A O Hume, he said, according to sources.
Organisations which wanted to rule and break the country, which wanted to divide it have used names like ‘India’ and ‘Indian’ to mislead people, the PM said and added “People have now matured and will not be misled by such nomenclature.”
PM Modi was severe in his criticism of the opposition amid the continuing logjam in Parliament and also sounded confident of the ruling dispensation retaining power at the Centre for a third term after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, sources who attended the meeting said.
(With inputs from agencies)