Cong hits back at PM over 'SCAM' taunt with more name-calling

Congress today hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for dubbing his political rivals in Uttar Pradesh as "SCAM", saying it does not behove a PM to use such words and, instead, he should give an account of the work done by him.

"Instead of delivering or what the road map ahead is, we hear him (Modi) speak on abbreviations. He is extremely worried because he has realized the faults what demonetization has done across the country," Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told reporters.

He also asked the Prime Minister to take back his words in which he said Indian Army carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan territory, as the strikes took place in PoK which was very much a part of India.

"The Prime Minister is very keen to use English abbreviations and he used 'SCAM' to attack his political rivals. We will tell you what 'SCAM' means in Hindi - it is 'satta bhogi, kapti dhongi Amit Shah Modi'," he said.

Vadakkan came out with similar taunts for BJP calling it "bhagoda jugadu party", "bhai bhateejawad party", "bhaichara jalao party", "bhrashtachar jagao party" and "bhramjaal jagao party".

The Congress reaction came after Modi, while addressing a rally in Meerut, asked the the people in Uttar Pradesh to "rid the state of SCAM - S for Samajwadi (party), C for Congress, A for Akhilesh (Yadav) and M for Mayawati".

Vadakkan also alleged that the Prime Minister talks of scams and scamsters as "all such people are in BJP and demonetisation is the biggest scam that he has given to the country due to which all sections of society suffered".

Questioning Prime Minister over his remarks on surgical strikes, he asked, "My simple question to the Prime Minister of India is when he says that this operation took place on 'Pakistan ki dharti', I want to know when did PoK became part of Pakistan's territory. PM should make it clear when did PoK become part of Pakistan's territory?."

"Is it correct for the Prime Minister of India to say this? If anybody else in any political party had said this, he would be immediately painted as anti-national. The Prime Minister of India needs to withdraw the statement," he said.

The Congress leader said the DGMO reported that surgical strikes happened on the LoC but the Prime Minister's reference was to PoK.

"While we know the Operation was in PoK, lies are never converted into facts and the ground reality is that you have tried to politicize the Indian Army," he said.

The Congress spokesperson also showed a video of the wife of BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav who he alleged has been kept in illegal detention since he put out a video of the alleged poor food quality provided to BSF jawans.

"I want to draw your attention to a surgical strike on the dignity and honour of a BSF jawan," he said, demanding that government should launch an inquiry into the allegations of Constable Yadav.

He also said that the family of Constable Yadav should be informed of his status and whereabouts and he should be released immediately from any unlawful confinement.

"PM should explain to the country why jawans are served sub-standard food. He must apologise to the nation promising such incidents do not happen again," he said.

The Congress spokesperson said that OROP should be implemented forthwith and the discrimination between armed forces and civilian employees should be redressed forthwith including issues of equivalent ranking, disability.