Like Duryodhana, PM Modi Will Be Defeated Because of His Ego, Says Priyanka Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of behaving like Duryodhana from the epic Mahabharat.

Duryodhana, son of blind king Dhritarashtra and eldest of the Kaurava brothers, is characterised by jealousy, ego and envy and conspires to send the Pandavas into exile. The plot is widely believed to have led to the “great war".

Addressing an election rally in Haryana’s Ambala, Gandhi said, “They (the BJP leaders) try to divert the country’s attention in order to hide their failures. This country has never forgiven ‘ahankaar’ (ego). History is proof of this, the Mahabharat is also proof of this," she said.

Referring to Mahabharata, Gandhi said that Duryodhana also possessed such ego as that seen in Modi and the BJP leadership.

“When Lord Krishna tried to explain reality to him (Duryodhana), he tried to capture Krishna as well," she added, reciting a few lines from ‘Krishna Ki Chetawani’ (The Warning of Krishna), a poem by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. The lines recited go on to say that a person’s intelligence is the first thing to die when he/she is about to be destroyed.

Gandhi further said the BJP never spoke about whether or not it fulfilled the promises made in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, instead focussing on seeking votes in the name of martyrs or the martyr (Rajiv Gandhi) of her family.

“Duryodhana also had a lot of ego, and his ego was the reason for his defeat," she said.

Modi has been criticised by several Opposition leaders and academics over his derogatory remarks aimed at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Targeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale deal issue, Modi had reportedly said, "Your father was termed 'Mr Clean' by his courtiers, but his life ended as 'Bhrashtachari No 1' (corrupt number 1)."