'Playing the victim card': Jairam Ramesh demands PM Modi apologise over NEET, Ram Mandir row
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "playing the victim card" and using "vile vitriol" against his predecessors and political opponents, while demanding an apology from the Prime Minister over a series of issues, including the NEET-UG paper leak, the Ram Mandir donation controversy and the 2016 demonetisation.
In a post on X, Ramesh alleged that the Prime Minister frequently spread falsehoods to target his political rivals.
"The self-declared non-biological PM enjoys playing the victim card. He uses vile vitriol against his predecessors and political opponents. He very frequently peddles lies to defame them, not just in his public speeches but in Parliament itself. He unleashes an army of foul-mouthed abusers both in Parliament and outside and gives them full protection," Ramesh wrote.
The Congress MP also criticised the government over the alleged irregularities in the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the handling of recent student protests.
"The entire nation is wanting the PM to apologise for the trauma inflicted on lakhs of youth through his paper leak-ridden NTA and his Home Ministry-sanctioned brutality on student protestors," he said.
Ramesh further demanded an apology over the alleged Ram Mandir donation controversy, accusing the Ram Mandir Trust of misleading devotees.
"The entire nation is waiting for the PM to apologise for the 'Chanda Chori Astha Dhoka' by the Ram Mandir Trust, the establishment of which he had himself grandly announced in the Lok Sabha on Feb 5, 2020," he alleged.
Referring to the 2016 demonetisation exercise, Ramesh reiterated the Congress party's long-standing criticism of the move, claiming it had severely impacted livelihoods and small businesses.
"The entire nation is still expecting his apology for his Tughlakian notebandi of Nov 8, 2016, that destroyed crores of livelihoods and shuttered lakhs of MSMEs. The list is endless," he said.
Ramesh's remarks came in response to a recent statement by Prime Minister Modi in which he said he had "forgiven" the country's youth. The Congress leader described the comment as an act of "supreme self-obsession".
"But late last night, in an act of supreme self-obsession, the PM said that he forgave our youth. This is an insult to the nation and to our youth which has suffered under his Government and is legitimately demanding an apology from him. The Prime Minister's Instagram Sabhas are fooling no one," Ramesh said.
(PTI)