The BJP took on Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his attire at a concert in Shillong, with a ‘soot boot’ jibe reminiscent of Gandhi’s own criticism of prime minister Narendra Modi in 2015 for wearing an expensive suit
The Meghalaya BJP in a tweet tagging Gandhi’s official handle compared his jacket to a Burberry one that costs $995, or roughly Rs 63,400.
The Congress on Wednesday laughed off the BJP’s jibe over an alleged Rs 63,000 jacket worn by party president Rahul Gandhi at the concert.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry on the desperation of the BJP. Are you saying they have no other work than to sit and search rates? I can show you the same jacket for Rs 700, ” Congress’ Renuka Chowdhury told news agency ANI.
The BJP’s potshot comes in retaliation to Gandhi’s “suit boot” jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a poll campaign in Bihar in 2015.
“While the Mahatma shed his suit and donned a dhoti as he led the poor farmers, Modi who claimed to have started as a chaiwala (tea seller) started wearing Rs 15 lakh suit after becoming Prime Minister,” Gandhi had said at a rally in West Champaran.
The suit referred to by Gandhi in his poll speech is a monogrammed suit donned by Modi during his 2015 meeting with then US President Barack Obama in India. The suit, which was sold at an auction for Rs 4.31 crore, has stripes with the name Narendra Damodardas Modi woven into it in glittering gold letters.
Attacking Modi, Chowdhury said,”Those who wove (their) own name on suit, do they have any moral authority to question Rahul Gandhi’s jacket? How do they know rate of the jacket?
Gandhi, who is on a campaign tour of Meghalaya that goes to polls on February 27, was seen wearing the jacket on Tuesday at a musical evening “Celebration of Peace”.
Gandhi on Wednesday fired a fresh “suit-boot ki sarkar” salvo at Modi, saying the prime minister was always found in the company of people attired in suits and not those who are poor.
“You will not see him (Modi) hug a poor person, talk to a poor person or even engage with a poor person. You will see him with others. There is a particular distance he maintains with the poor people which he does not with Mr Obama or others,” Gandhi told journalists in Shillong.
The Congress president said Modi had promised to create two crore jobs a year but failed to achieve the target.
“The fact of the matter is that he (Modi) is still a suit-boot person. He has not done anything….,” Gandhi said.
Congress leader Chowdhury said it was the BJP was leading a “suit-boot ki sarkar” at the Centre and had no moral authority to question Gandhi. She accused the Modi government of being “idle”, and said it should focus on issues such as the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and rising prices of fuel and vegetables.
“Their frustration is directly proportionate to the rising popularity of Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi connects with the young. So, this idle and suit-boot ki sarkar has no right to talk about it,” she said.
The BJP, which is gearing up to give a tough fight to the ruling Congress in the Meghalaya assembly elections, also accused the Congress of distracting voters by organising a soiree.
“Rock concert distraction tactics by the @OfficeOfRG to take away focus of Meghalayan voters from real issues on ground! A prince can fuss over ‘fuddy-duddy chopper’ rides & cancel his Tura trip, but ever wondered how people in Meghalaya travel,” the BJP tweeted.
Abhishek Bachchan trolled Rahul Gandhi. He Said:
People also made fun of Rahul Gandhi:
