Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a public gathering in Odisha's Kandhamal, bowed down to seek blessings from Padma Shri awardee Purnamasi Jani. The video of PM's gesture is being shared widely across social media platforms.
Jani, 80, is a poet and social activist from Odisha. She has reportedly composed over 50,000 devotional songs in Kui, Odia and Sanskrit and was awarded Padma Shri in 2021.
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While addressing the public meeting in Kandhamal, PM Modi said that the country has made up its mind of giving over 400 seats to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He also targetted opposition Congress, saying it will be reduced to less than 50 seats when the results of the ongoing polls will be announced.
"India has made up their mind that NDA will cross 400 (in Lok Sabha). The people of Congress must note that the country has now decided that on June 4 they won't get the seats that are needed to be the opposition, they will be limited below 50 seats," the BJP leader said.
The Prime Minister also launched an attack on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, whose comment on Pakistan went viral recently.
"Time and again Congress tries to scare its own country. They say 'sambhal ke chalo Pakistan ke pass atom bomb hai'. They talk about Pakistan's bomb, but the condition of Pakistan is such that they don't know how to keep it and they are looking for a buyer to sell their bombs but no one wants to buy them as people know about the quality," he said.
Recently, an old view of Mani Shankar Aiyar surfaced on social media, which created a massive controversy with several BJP leaders condemning his remarks.
In the video, Aiyar could be heard saying that Pakistan is a respected nation that also possesses an atom bomb so India should engage in a dialogue with them.
"They are also a sovereign country (Pakistan). They are a respected nation. You can talk tough with them (Pakistan). But start the dialogue. You are walking with a gun which yielded nothing Tensions are escalating," said the former diplomat.
Aiyar also took a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, "We must understand that to become vishwaguru (global leader), it is important to show that we are working rapidly to solve (all the bilateral issues) with Pakistan. There has been no effort (on the part of the government) to (reach out to Pakistan) in the last years."
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