Congress has issued a "fatwa" against me, fires back PM Modi at Rahul Gandhi's 'he shouldn't say Bharat Mata Ki Jai' attack

PM Modi has hit back at the Congress, accusing the party and its president Rahul Gandhi in particular, for issuing a 'fatwa' over him starting his rallies with 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'

Taking to Twitter and responding to the attack, as he did in his poll rally at Sikar in Rajasthan, the Prime Minister asked how the Congress can deny this?

They must be ashamed of even saying such a thing, the Prime Minister wrote, adding that this showed their disrespect for India.

The Prime Minister was responding to remarks made by Congress president Rahul Gandhi in poll-bound Rajasthan's Alwar earlier on Tuesday, when he took issue with Narendra Modi starting his speeches by saying 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Rahul Gandhi said:

"PM Modi says 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' before every speech. He should instead say 'Anil Ambani ki jai, Mehul Choksi ki jai, Nirav Modi ki Jai and Lalit Modi ki jai'. If you talk of Bharat Mata then how can you forget our farmers?"

The Congress president advocating on the use of Bharat Mata Ki Jai to attack the Prime Minister comes across as being somewhat hollow given the controversy just two weeks earlier when a senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan minister visibly stopped one of his supporters from starting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' chants and made him chant 'Sonia Gandhi zindabad, Rahul Gandhi zindabad, Ahmed Patel zindabad' and so on. The leader in question faced public backlash, including invitations to key functions being withdrawn. At that time, the BJP had equated it with an 'India is Indira, Indira is India' moment for the Congress, implying that for the grand old party, the 'family' and dynasty was more important than the nation.