THE POLITICAL BLOWBACK

The PM looks to deflect Rahul Gandhi's allegations of a 'Modi-Adani' nexus, invoking the "blessings of 1.4 billion people". How will this play out for the leaders and their parties?

- KAUSHIK DEKA, ANILESH S. MAHAJAN and PRADIP R. SAGAR

On February 7, as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made his explosive allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha, accusing him of unduly favouring billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani at the cost of the country, he charged that "the real magic" started in 2014 after the BJP came to power in New Delhi. The list of accusations was long, with Rahul buttressing the charges by holding up pictures of the PM and Adani together in the latter's private jet. The scathing attack on the PM went viral on social media, and Speaker Om Birla later expunged 18 remarks Rahul made against Modi and Adani, leading to a Congress leader tweeting on how "deMOcracy was cremated in the Lok Sabha".

In his reply the next day, PM Modi niftily turned around the debate to a personal attack on himself, invoking the "trust of 1.4 billion Indians" that acted as a "protective shield that no lies could pierce". Taking the attack to the Congress, he countered Rahul, saying a party "drowning in despair and hubris" was bent on seeing everything in a bad light.