New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gave a light-hearted yet sharp reply to Rahul Gandhi's 'youth will beat PM with sticks' remark and said he will increase the frequency of doing Surya Namaskar to deal with the assault.
Prime Minister Narendra was replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in the Lok Sabha.
"A leader of the Congress has yesterday announced that within six months they will beat Modi with sticks. And it is true that this is a difficult thing, hence six months will be required for the preparation. So the six months of time is good. "
Outlining his penchant for Yoga and using the reference to take a light-hearted jibe, Modi added, "But I have also decided that in these six months I will increase the number of 'Surya Namaskars' so that, same as I have made myself abuse-proof in last 20 years, I will do as many Surya Namaskars so that my back can be made strong enough to tolerate such beatings by the stick. Hence I am grateful that they have announced in advance so that I can increase my exercise regime in these six months."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stood up and attempted to interject as soon as Modi ended this part of his speech, however, what he said could not be heard due to uproar in the parliament.
"I was speaking for 30-40 minutes now, but the current has reached there now," PM Modi quipped while gesturing at the Congress leader to sit down.
"Some tube lights work like this," he added. Thereafter, Prime Minister continued to speak about skill development, digital economy and other issues.
Hitting back at Modi after the prime minister replied to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in Lok Sabha, Gandhi said both the prime minister and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have given long speeches in Parliament but have failed to reply on providing employment to youth.
"All youngsters of this country want that after studies -- school, college university -- they get employment. We asked the prime minister repeatedly that you have given a one and a half-hour speech and if for two minutes you can tell the youth about employment and what your government has done about it," he said.
"Youngsters saw, that the PM could not give a reply," the former Congress president said while speaking to reporters outside Parliament.
The government earlier used to talk about the economy, Make in India, USD 5 trillion, but the prime minister now does not talk about the biggest issue facing the country and is distracting the people by talking about other things, ranging from the Congress and Nehru to Pakistan and Bangladesh.
"His (Modi's) style is of distracting the country," he said.
"Talk about the main issue prime minister ji. Tell the youth what you are doing about jobs...His style is to distract the country. He had said two crore jobs will be given to youngsters, but five and a half years have passed. Last year 1 crore youth lost jobs, he is unable to say a word," Gandhi said.
On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi, at an election rally in Delhi, had said, "Narendra Modi is giving speeches, he will not be able to move out of his house in the next six months. The youth of India will beat him with sticks to make him understand that without employment, the country can never progress.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
