Congress president Rahul Gandhi has given a host of satirical names to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past year as he has continued targeting him over issues like the Rafale deal, demonetisation and the state of the economy. And, not surprisingly, the BJP has almost always hit back in kind.
On Thursday, the Congress chief and the BJP attacked each other using the names of two European dictators—Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini of Italy. Ironically, both dictators were allies!
NoMo Jobs!
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 31, 2019
The Fuhrer promised us 2 Cr jobs a year. 5 years later, his leaked job creation report card reveals a National Disaster.
Unemployment is at its highest in 45 yrs.
6.5 Cr youth are jobless in 2017-18 alone.
Time for NoMo2Go. #HowsTheJobs pic.twitter.com/nbX4iYmsiZ
After barbs such as 'NoMo' and 'your highness' in recent months, on Thursday, Gandhi used the term Fuhrer in a tweet prompted by a news report that claimed unemployment was at a 45-year high. Fuhrer was the formal name used to address Hitler after he adopted dictatorial powers in Germany.
While the tweet doesn't explicitly name Modi, Gandhi left little to the imagination about who he was referring to. Gandhi tweeted, “The Fuhrer promised us 2 Cr jobs a year. 5 years later, his leaked job creation report card reveals a National Disaster. Unemployment is at its highest in 45 yrs. 6.5 Cr youth are jobless in 2017-18 alone. Time for NoMo2Go.”
The news report on unemployment, published by Business Standard, cites data from the periodic labour force survey (PLFS) of the government that showed unemployment was now 6.1 per cent, the highest since 1972-73. The PLFS had become a source of controversy earlier in the week after two members of the National Statistical Commission resigned in protest against the Modi government not releasing the data.
It's clear that he has inherited Mussolini's shortsightedness and has myopic understanding of issues.
— BJP (@BJP4India) January 31, 2019
EPFO's real data shows sharp increase in jobs, created in just the last 15 months.
Only a man who hasn't ever held a proper job & is totally jobless can peddle such #FakeNews! https://t.co/T0DHUs7IdZ
Soon after Gandhi's tweet referring to Modi as Fuhrer, the BJP claimed EPFO data showed a “sharp increase” in jobs over the past 15 months and also referred to Gandhi as inheriting “Mussolini's shortsightedness” and having “myopic understanding of issues”.
The BJP's official Twitter handle tweeted, “It's clear that he has inherited Mussolini's shortsightedness and has myopic understanding of issues. EPFO's real data shows sharp increase in jobs, created in just the last 15 months. Only a man who hasn't ever held a proper job & is totally jobless can peddle such.”
Interestingly, Gandhi also tweeted #HowsTheJobs, which had become the most trending topic on Twitter by 2.30pm on Tuesday. The phrase is a pun on the 'How's the josh?' phrase in the recent Bollywood movie Uri: The Surgical Strike.
