Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a joint session of the US Congress on June 23, 2023. PM Modi gave the speech in English, and since then, Congress leaders and supporters have consistently been taking jibes at how he speaks the language. Comparing it to disqualified Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the US during his recent trip, the grand old party’s youth wing, Indian Youth Congress, from its official handle wrote, “Speak English in a way people close their ears” in Hindi on Twitter.
इंग्लिश ऐसी बोलो की चार लोग कान बन्द करले! pic.twitter.com/Pom76gba6m
— Indian Youth Congress (@IYC) June 24, 2023
Congress’ chairperson of social media and digital platforms, Supriya Shrinate, tweeted mistakes made by PM Modi during his address.
▪️We must 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 in our girl child never 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 her
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) June 23, 2023
▪️Hope we have laid nearly 400,000 miles of 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 fibre and not 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 fibre
▪️Hope we have a 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 with the United States and not 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢 pic.twitter.com/p441PurRjk
Congress supporter Shantanu also mocked PM Modi and said he could not read though there were two teleprompters.
‘Investigating in a girl child’ ,
— Shantanu (@shaandelhite) June 23, 2023
Modi with 2 teleprompter urging to investigate in a girl child not to invest.
pic.twitter.com/vOX4YfFDCH
Congress IT and social media coordinator John Samuel claimed PM Modi’s followers do not understand what the world is hearing when PM Modi speaks, and it was funny that his sentence was beyond any moral person’s comprehension. Interestingly, he said, “But those bhakts don’t even can’t understand that the world is hearing Modi when he speaks.” Maybe he skipped proofreading.
BJP supporters lined up to justify the English of Modi.
— John Samuel 🇮🇳 (@pitchaijohn1961) June 24, 2023
Very funny to say they ask about our English knowledge.
But those bhakts don't even can't understand that the world is hearing Modi when he speaks.
It's not criticism of his English but the pain of tarnishing India's… pic.twitter.com/OAafyfB8XA
Towards the end of his rant on Twitter, Samuel said that Congress supporters would never allow anyone to tarnish the country’s image. The statement came from a Congress supporter, the same Congress whose leader Rahul Gandhi has been tarnishing India’s image on international platforms by making misleading statements repeatedly.
English is not the native language of PM Modi. His mother tongue is Gujarati, and his second language is Hindi. He understands English perfectly and mostly replies in Hindi to the questions asked in English, which is a well-established fact. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi has always studied in English medium schools. In all probability, his first language is English. He makes a lot of mistakes while speaking Hindi and often gets mocked for it because a vast majority speak Hindi in India. The same goes for Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who, despite being in India, has been unable to get fluent in Hindi. She tried to speak in Hindi, but it was not her cup of tea.
If we look back at PM Modi’s speeches in different parts of the country, he always tries to build a connection with the locals in the local language. He will learn a few sentences of the native language of the state and include them in his speech making it more personal. Such efforts are often missing from speeches of Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi.
It is a fact that non-English speaking leaders of BJP, including PM Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Tamil Nadu BJP state President Annamalai, and others, have gained immense popularity among the masses. People in India or abroad do not care what language PM Modi or other leaders speak. They look for a connection with these leaders, and PM Modi and other BJP leaders know how to establish that connection.
Mocking someone for pronunciation or vocabulary is easy, but these things do not make a leader. If speaking fluent English was necessary to become Prime Minister in India, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor would have led the country at least once by now. The reality is he did not, and neither did Rahul Gandhi, despite being “discovered” repeatedly over almost a decade.
Jibes on PM Modi’s language and background
This is not the first time Congress leaders have taken a jibe at PM Modi’s language or background. They have mocked him consistently by calling him ‘chaiwala’. PM Modi belongs to a very humble family background. He used to sell tea at a railway station as a child. It is the power of democracy that he became Chief Minister of Gujarat and then Prime Minister of India. Congress leader Mani Shankar Iyer once said, “In the 21st century, Modi cannot become Prime Minister. If he wants to distribute tea, we can arrange for that”, during a Congress meeting.
When Prime Minister called himself Chowkidar or the guard of the country, Rahul Gandhi gave the slogan “Chowkidar Chor Hai”. He constantly made his supporters chant the slogan in different rallies. He had to apologise in Supreme Court for repeatedly using derogatory language for the PM.
Rahul Gandhi mocked PM Modi for his surname and questioned if there was a connection between being a thief and the surname Modi. His jibes became the reason for his disqualification from the Parliament as he was sentenced to two years in a defamation case.
The rise of PM Modi in the political arena gives hope to everyone that they can lead the nation no matter what. However, the same humble background becomes a subject of trolling and mocking as the elite leadership of Congress fails to see the beauty of the constitution in PM Modi’s political career. For them, speaking English and being in a high-headed state are necessary for leadership.
PM Modi loves to flaunt his Indian-ness wherever he can. From wearing traditional dresses and headgear during visits to different states to wearing jackets made out of recycled plastic, PM Modi leads the way for a proud generation. The grand old party miserably fails to comprehend the reality of the situation and keeps mocking him for the things people love him.
