Headlines
Amarinder ridicules Modi's Mandela remark for Badal
Chandigarh, Oct 11 Just hours after Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday compared Punjab Chief Minister Parkash
Singh Badal to Nelson Mandela, Congress leader Amarinder Singh ridiculed
the remark and termed it an "insult" to the legendary South African
anti-apartheid icon.
"Either it is a tongue in cheek comment by
the prime minister and he really did not mean what he said, or he
actually does not know what he is saying. If Mr Modi really meant so, it
is an insult to the great stature of Nelson Mandela, who single-handed
fought against and defeated the apartheid in South Africa," Amarinder,
the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, said in a statement here.
The
former Punjab chief minister said: "Mandela spent 27 years in jail in
isolation and solitary confinement fighting against apartheid, while
Badal may not have spent a total of even 27 months in jail and most of
the time in luxury and hospitality of the government.
"And most
of the jail terms of Mr Badal were voluntary as he would always hide
behind the safety and the hospitality of the government guest houses
after sparking trouble in Punjab and getting people killed."
Ridiculing
the prime minister's remarks that Badal is the "Nelson Mandela of
India", Amarinder said: "Who says our prime minister does not have a
sense of humour?"
Accusing Badal of "destroying the entire social
and economic fabric of Punjab", he said: "There can be no greater
insult to Mandela than comparing someone like Badal with him."
"If
Modi seriously means Badal to be the Nelson Mandela of India, then, I
am sure, he might be thinking that like Mandela, he (Badal) deserves a
Bharat Ratna and Nobel Peace Prize also and he should really lobby for
him," said the Congress leader.
Badal, 87, the chief minister of
Punjab for the fifth time, had earlier claimed that he was the longest
serving political prisoner in the world after Mandela. The claim has
been disputed by state Congress leadership.