In Last Speech to LS Before Polls, PM Modi Singles Out Rahul's 'Earthquake' Jab and 'Hug' For Special Mention

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his last address to the Lok Sabha as the country readies for the general elections, took potshots at the Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Modi said that his government had completed full five years despite threats of an ‘earthquake’ referring to Rahul Gandhi’s claim in 2016 that if he were given 15 minutes to speak on Rafale he would cause an earthquake in Parliament.

“Hum sunte the bhukamp aayega…lekin paanch saal ke karyakaal mein to koi bhukamp nahi aaya (We heard that an earthquake was on its way…but at least in our five years of governance we did not experience any earthquake)," Modi said.

He added, “Hawai jahaaz ude…bade bade logon ke udaaye…Lekin sadan ki garima itni uunchi hai ki sab kuch pacha gaya (Aeroplanes were flown…big leaders flew paper aeroplanes…but such is the honour of Parliament that it remained unblemished despite all this)."

Reference to the paper aeroplanes was to what some Congress MPs did in the house – fling paper aeroplanes in the air – while senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley was presenting government’s defence of the Rafale deal.

Continuing to target Rahul Gandhi, who was not present in the Lok Sabha, where Modi was delivering his speech, the PM recounted all he learnt as the first time Parliamentarian over the last five years. “Is sadan mein pehli baar pata chala ki gale padna aur gale milne mein kya antar hai (First time I understood the difference between throwing oneself at someone and an embrace)," PM said.

This was a reference to Rahul Gandhi walking up to Modi in the Lok Sabha and embracing him, on a day when Rafale was being debated in Parliament, after delivering a passionate speech about Congress’ ideology of ‘combating hatred with love’.

The flavour, so to speak, of Modi’s last speech in Parliament, for this term, before parties throw themselves whole-heartedly in campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, may be read as an indicator of the no-holds-barred poll speeches that the masses are likely to witness in the days to come.