BJP's 'beta, damaad' dig at Sonia Gandhi in LS

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey on Tuesday slammed the opposition parties for bringing a no-confidence motion against the government, saying this is a no-trust vote against a "poor man's son" who worked for the welfare of the people.

Starting the debate from the government's side, Dubey said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that this is not a no-confidence motion against the government but it has been brought by the opposition to test the confidence of its own alliance members in each other.

Dubey took a swipe at the opposition parties, saying they were fighting among themselves and call themselves INDIA.

He claimed that if one asks the full form of the acronym INDIA to opposition leaders, very few will be able to elaborate.

In his remarks, Dubey also raised the issue of the Supreme Court staying Rahul Gandhi's conviction in the 'Modi surname' remark case following which his Lok Sabha membership was restored.

"There was such a brouhaha over Rahul Gandhi's return to Parliament but where had he gone...he was here in the Budget session. The Supreme Court has not acquitted him. He has also said he will not say sorry......He says I am not (VD) Savarkar, you can never be Savarkar," Dubey said.

In a dig at Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who were both present in the House, Dubey said she was following the traditional Indian woman's way of "Bete ko set karna hai, damaad ko bhent karna hai (Has to set her son, and gift to her son-in-law)".

In another dig at Rahul Gandhi, Dubey also said that the former Congress president was expected to initiate the debate but did not do so last minute as "probably he got up late".

Dubey also named various non-Congress parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc to claim that they had been targeted by the Congress in the past but they were now siding with the grand old party against the NDA.

"In 1976 , the Congress had dismissed the Karunanidhi government and in 1980 when the Indira Gandhi government came back, the DMK supported it. 'Aap karein to raaslila hum karein to character dheela' (If you do it is fine, if we indulge in it our character is questioned)," Dubey said.

He also cited the Congress allegedly targeting the TMC over corruption and also being responsible for "RJD's Lalu Prasad going to jail" to highlight the differences in the opposition ranks.

He also singled out the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, alleging that the Congress had gotten CBI cases slapped against him while it was the BJP that got them removed and also conferred on him the Padma Vibhushan.

Dubey also raised the cases filed by Congress leaders against NCP leaders and also the action against Sheikh Abdullah to stress that the Congress had targeted several of its INDIA bloc partners in the past.

The BJP MP said when the prime minister talks about 'parivaarvaad' it does not mean that someone cannot take up the profession of his or her parents but about dynastic approach.

"This no-confidence motion is against the son of a poor, the no-confidence motion is against the person who gave people houses, the no-confidence motion is against the person who gave drinking water to the people, the no-confidence motion is against the person who gave toilets to the people, the no-confidence motion is against the person who tried to bring light in everyone's home," the BJP leader said.

"The arguments made by them would be to disrobe (cheerharan) the policies of the Modi government like the cheerharan of Droupadi...When Droupadi's 'cheerharan' was happening, Dhritrashtra, Bhishma Pitamah, Dronacharya, Arjun, Yudhishtr, were all 'maun (silent)' and none of them survived, when they do 'cheerharan' of Modi, a person who works for the welfare of the people and they (opposition benches) are 'maun', none of them would survive in 2024, none of them would come back," Dubey said.

He also added that his party will return with 400 seats in the 2024 elections.