‘Murkhon ke sardar’: PM Modi’s dig at Rahul Gandhi’s remark on dominance of Chinese products in India | India News

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday mocked Rahul Gandhi calling the Congress leader ‘Murkhon ke sardar’ without taking his name. The Prime Minister was taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s remark on the dominance of “Made in China” mobile phones in India.

“One wise leader of the Congress said yesterday that everyone in India has ‘Made in China’ mobile phones.’Arre Murkhon ke Sardar’ (leader of fools) in which world do you live! The leaders of the Congress have this mental disease of not recognising the achievements of their own countrymen. I wonder which foreign lens they use that they are absolutely clueless of what is happening in the country,”PM Modi said at a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
“The leaders of the Congress are flying so high that they can’t see the poor on the ground and are also clueless about the ground realities,” the Prime Minister said and went on to describe how India has now become the second leading manufacturer of mobile phones in the world.
“When Congress was in power at the Centre, India used to make mobile phones worth less than Rs 20,000 crore. Today, India manufactures mobile phones worth over Rs 3.5 lakh crore. We export mobile phones worth nearly Rs 1 lakh crore to other countries,” PM Modi said.
“Those who remember ‘Make In India’ only during the elections can never understand the importance of indigenous products,” he added.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had attacked the BJP government citing the dominance of Chinese products in Indian market.
“Today, we see ‘Made in China’ on shirts, cameras, mobile phones. The Congress wants to start factories in Madhya Pradesh so that the youth of the state get job opportunities. We hope a day comes when a youth takes out his mobile phone in China and that phone has been manufactured in Madhya Pradesh,” Rahul had said at a rally in the poll-bound state.
Both the Congress and the BJP are campaigning hard to woo voters of the state. PM Modi has addressed several rallies in the state and has been unsparing in his attacks against the Congress. The BJP is going all out to retain power in the state. The Congress, on the other hand, is eager to take revenge. The Kamal Nath government formed after the 2018 assembly elections was toppled after several Congress MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia revolted against the grand old party and later joined hands with the BJP to help Shivraj Singh Chouhan return as the chief minister of the state.
Rahul accused the BJP of purchasing MLAs and expressed confidence that the grand old party would win around 150 seats in the assembly elections in the state to be held on November 17.
“There will be a storm in favour of the Congress. The party will win 145 to 150 seats. Five years back, you (people) elected a Congress government but BJP leaders (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, (MP Chief Minister) Shivraj Singh and (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah purchased the MLAs and stole your government,” Rahul said at a rally in Vidisha.
“The BJP ran a 40 percent cut government in Karnataka…(After Congress came to power there) I told the Karnataka chief minister to return the money that was snatched by the BJP government from the pockets of poor people in five years. I told him to return the money to the poor, which the BJP had given to the rich,” he said.
People in the Congress-ruled Karnataka and Chhattisgarh are getting LPG cylinders at Rs 500 each, while people in other states are paying Rs 1,200-1,400 here for the same, Gandhi said.