Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Friday ‘attended’ a press conference with the BJP President Amit Shah. This was for the first time in his tenure as PM that he sat in a press conference.
However, he didn’t answer or take a single question.
Modi, in his remarks said that he was here to thank the people of the country as a well journalists who ‘blessed’ him throughout his tenure. He added that Shah will answer the questions.
The BJP President had already announced during the start of the event that Modi will ‘attend’ the conference. However when one journalist directed a question towards Modi, he said, “I am a disciplined soldier; the party president is everything for me.”
Shah added that Modi didn’t need to answer the question.
Modi however, in his brief remarks claimed that BJP will return to power with absolute majority. “It will happen after a long time in the country, that a government will come to power with an absolute majority for the second consecutive time,” he said.
Shah, while answering all the questions, defended the candidature of Sadhvi Pragya, who is the prime accused in the Malegaon blast case. He said that her candidature was BJP’ ‘Satyagrha’ (protest) against the fake ‘Baghwa terror’ (saffron terror).
He claimed the Congress had floated the idea of “Saffron terror” to “malign” the Hindu religion.
Shah however distanced from Sadhvi’s comments that Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse was a ‘patriot’.
“Modi government has worked hard to honour the beliefs and ideas of Mahatma Gandhi on cleanliness, national security and khadi. The disciplinary action would be initiated against party leaders for their comments on Godse as per the procedures spelt out in the party’s constitution,” Shah said.
Meanwhile Congress President Rahul Gandhi held a presser at the same time.
He asked that when the PM is live why isn’t he ready for a debate on Rafale row. Rahul also alleged that only a few journalists were allowed to attend Modi’s press conference.
Mocking Modi’s presser, Rahul in a tweet said:
Congratulations Modi Ji. Excellent Press Conference! Showing up is half the battle. Next time Mr Shah may even allow you to answer a couple of questions. Well done! 👍
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 17, 2019
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said:
Amit Shah doesn’t forget to thank the embedded BJP workers disguised as journalists. https://t.co/MsSOpi0nDw
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 17, 2019
Due to his failure to take an questions, the ‘press conference’ was mocked on social media.
— The Blockheads (@DaBlockheads) May 17, 2019
