Forget insulting, PM Modi’s ‘raincoat jibe’ was exactly what Congress deserved

As far as speeches go, PM Modi’s blitzkrieg attack on the Opposition in Rajya Sabha was more Trump than Lincoln. It was no Gettysburg speech that looked to codify the values of a nation, but more of a bare-knuckled side-alley hack against opponents who had relentlessly mocked you. And the PM reserved a special Rocky-style KO for his predecessor Manmohan Singh and his ‘organized loot’ comment which was waiting to be hit.  

If the speech he made in Lok Sabha a day earlier was slightly apologetic about demonetization and looked to negate the political fallout, the speech in Rajya Sabha was a vicious attack on the Congress and their legacy, to create an alternative narrative that looked to further the BJP’s agenda of a Congress-free India.  

It was also more an election speech than a reply as Sitaram Yechury noted. Yechury, who staged a walkout after speech with other Opposition MPs, because PM Modi didn’t allow them to reply noted, “The Prime Minister’s reply was not a reply. It was a straight forward election speech aimed at his electorate in UP, Uttarakhand and Mizoram.” (There are no elections in Mizoram anytime soon and perhaps the comrade was referring to Manipur.)

Add upcoming elections in the next two years in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh along with 2019 Lok Sabha polls, this was also about laying down a marker for the Congress.

The entire speech, where he attacked the Congress and Opp parties could be broken down into three jabs.   

The first one was the raincoat jibe as PM Modi noted that Dr Manmohan Singh, in one form or another had been directly associated with the financial decisions of the nation for 30-35 out of 70 years. He said: “So many scams occurred... We politicians have a lot to learn from Dr Sahab. So much happened, there is not a single blot on him. Dr Sahab is the only person who knows the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on."

As the Congress members created an uproar, an angry Modi reminded them: “If you cross the limits of decorum, then you should have courage to listen to the response. We have the capacity to pay in the same coin. We do so within the limits of decorum and boundaries of the Constitution. They (Congress) don't want to accept the defeat in any form. How long will it continue??He went on to add, "the person who held such a high post, used the words 'loot' and 'plunder' in the House. Then they (Congress) also should have thought 50 times (before using those words)."

The reference was to Dr Singh’s speech in RS when he called demonetization ‘a monumental management failure’ and a case of ‘organized loot and legalised plunder’. Without naming Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the PM also hinted that someone was putting words in the former PM’s mouth.  

Now former PM Singh is well within his rights to criticise PM Modi or demonetization as much as he wants, but the fact remains that demonetization was an executive decision taken by the government along with the RBI and calling it ‘organized loot’ and equating it with scams was always going to get a stinging reply.  More so because Dr Singh was in-charge when several scams took place under his nose including Coalgate, 2G Spectrum, Choppergate and the Commonwealth Games. 

And it's not like the Congress members haven't used harsh words to describe the PM or his party. In Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Kharge had claimed that 'not a single dog from your side came for the freedom struggle'. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi said during his Kisan Yatra in UP, that  PM Modi was doing 'khoon ka dalali' post the surgical strike. 

The second attack was at Congress’ legacy and the fact that even a strong leader like Indira Gandhi didn’t carry out demonetization. Taking a leaf from former Home Secretary Madhav Godbole’s book which criticised former PM Indira Gandhi for not undertaking demonetization in 1971 because of the possible political fallout.

The final jab was a rebuttal for the criticism that has come against the RBI and Governor Urjit Patel’s way by claiming critics had lowered the dignity of the RBI. The PM went on another walk down memory lane as he referenced former Governor D Subbarao’s book suggesting that Finance Minister P Chidambaram had interfered with the functioning of the RBI.

 He even had a history lesson for the Left parties as he pointed out that former CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Jyotirmoy Basu (not to be confused with former West Bengal CM Jyoti Basu) had also supported demonetization and brought the Wanchoo report to the Rajya Sabha. The PM claimed that the Left should’ve supported demonetization, and that it was against their character not to do so.

The reaction from Congress was expected, with Manmohan Singh refusing to comment and P Chidambaram claiming it was in ‘poor taste’ and ‘unbecoming of the PM’. Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile wrote that by ‘ridiculing his predecessor the PM had lowered the dignity of parliament’, perhaps because only the Congress scion feels only he has the right to ridicule the former PM.

While armchair critics and pundits might castigate the ‘raincoat’ remark, it is likely to be lapped up by the masses who will take a pick a leader perceived to shake things up, with a gift of the gab, over an intellectual any day of the week.

 Whether people support demonetization or not, as PM Modi claimed in RS, is an answer we will get in the next few weeks when the poll results come out, but there’s no denying that the Congress are still reeling from the blitzkrieg attack as the adjournments in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

As Chetan Bhagat, the bard of our times who articulates what India wants better than most of his contemporaries put it on Twitter: “PM comment on #ManmohanSingh both apt and funny. And MMS is ex PM, not a baby that everyone has to turn protective. Let MMS defend himself. Just because someone is soft spoken doesn't make them dignified. Fact is #ManmohanSingh was PM. Cong not going to let parl function over raincoat remark. Maut ka Saudagar. Ok. Khoon ki Dalali. Ok. Bathing with raincoat. stop parliament!” As for the Congress, it’s important for them to wake up from their self-righteous anger and realise that criticising is a two-way street and this is not a PM who’s going to take potshots lying down.