You abuse Nehru, Indira but copy them: Raj Thackeray’s dig at PM Modi

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi copied former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, even after being critical of them. "You (Modi) will keep on abusing Nehru and Indira Gandhi, but still you copy them. Past five years you have only lied to the country on everything," Thackeray roared.

Thackeray also said that the term 'Pradhan Sevak’ was first coined by India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru.

“Nehru Memorial Museum in Teen Murti Bhavan in the national capital has a plaque in which Pandit Nehru's quote is prominently embossed - Is desh ki janta hame Pradhan Mantri na kahe, pratham sevak kahe (The people of the country must not call me prime minister, call me pratham sevak or first servant),” Thackeray said.

"But he (Modi) has merely changed pratham sevak to pradhan sevak," Thackeray pointed out during his campaign speech for the Congress-led 56-party 'Mahagathbandhan'.

He played PM Modi's earlier speeches on the topic and produced an old newspaper clipping to buttress his argument that Nehru had actually met Bhagat Singh twice in jail.

"Now, what does he (Modi) mean by Congress family? Was it Gandhiji's family, Nehru's family, Patel's family, Maulana Azad's family, or Sarojini Naidu's family? If it was Nehru's family, then he had visited Bhagat Singh twice in prison and it is Indira's family, she was barely 14 at that time. The question of Rajiv, Sanjay, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka's family doesn't arise," he said.

With Agency Inputs