Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave himself the moniker ‘Gaali-proof’ as he shared that he was not rattled by the Opposition’s personal attacks on him.
Responding to a question by Amish Devgan, Managing Editor, New18 UP, the prime minister said: “We are kaamdaar, they are naamdaar. Kaamdars like us have grown up hearing abuses since childhood. We don’t take these things personally.”
In a lighter vein, the prime minister added: “I have become Gaali-proof in a way. When people ask me the source of my energy, I say jokingly that I eat two kilograms of abuses every day and that is where I get my energy from.”
Explaining how he turns around negative remarks, PM Modi said: “There is an old poem, the gist of which was that I take the stones that people throw at me and use them to build a path and move forward. Secondly, jitna who keechad ucchalenge, kamal utna hi zyaada khilega [The more muck they throw our way, the more the lotus will bloom].”
Earlier, in an interview with Network 18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, the prime minister had said he was ashamed of the level of discourse. “That means whatever abuses you are hurling, you are hurling them at the prime minister. To say things like we will bash the prime minister’s head or abuse my mother… I am shocked that even the president of India was insulted. I am ashamed of this.”
He had asserted that he was going forward with a positive attitude and had left the responsibility on the media and voters to deal with people (hurling abuses) as they deem fit.
The BJP has often turned around the Opposition’s barbs at the prime minister into opportunities to reach out to voters and touch a chord with them.
For instance, when Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav mocked the prime minister by saying he did not have a family, PM Modi retaliated with “140 crore people of India are my family”. Following this, all BJP leaders added ‘Modi Ka Parivar’ after their names on social media platform X.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, then Congress president Rahul Gandhi had raised the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hain’ slogan, alleging irregularities in the Rafale aircraft deal. Subsequently, all the BJP leaders added ‘Main bhi chowkidar’ after their usernames on X (formerly Twitter).
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