Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi speaks in the House during the Parliament session on July 1, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: "You cannot stop a Gandhi", said the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), as it showered praise on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the newly-appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, for stepping up to the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah head on.
"In the days to come, Modi and Shah will have to face a lot... you cannot stop a Gandhi. This message surely would have reached the (central investigative agencies) ED and CBI", said an editorial that appeared in Shiv Sena (UBT) Marathi mouthpiece Saamana and its Hindi tabloid version Dopahar ka Saamana.
“Single handedly (leading from the front) Rahul Gandhi proved more than a match for the BJP’s Modi, Shah, and BJP leaders and union ministers Rajnath Singh, Kiren Rijiju, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bhupendra Yadav among others on the ruling side. Modi’s fake Hindutva did not work in the Lok Sabha elections, and on July 1, Rahul Gandhi once again vanquished them in Parliament", it said, adding that so far the BJP had been targeting political opponents by using ED and CBI but now the time has come to teach them a lesson.
"Rahul Gandhi has exposed the mask of Modi, Shah and the BJP… for the first time in last 10 years, Shah had to seek protection in the Lok Sabha from the Lok Sabha Speaker (Om Birla)… during the discussion on President (Droupadi Murmu), he exposed Modi… scratched off the vermillion of divinity off Modi", the hard-hitting editorial said.
"Gandhi’s assertion of how some people are instigating riots in the name of Hindutva and spreading communal hatred for elections, even though real Hinduism is sober, liberal and fearlessly supportive of truth, has rattled Modi who accused the Leader of the Opposition of insulting the Hindus", the editorial notes.
"They (BJP) used Hindutva (as a poll plank) for fighting elections in the name of religion for 10 years, but now they have been shown the mirror", it said.