Former BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Saturday posted a video on Instagram in which he sarcastically remarked that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “failed” to be a dictator.
“Friends, I am totally disappointed with PM Narendra Modi,” Poonawalla said, adding that the Prime Minister was “unable to be a proper dictator.”
Refers To PM Modi’s Message After CJP Protest
Explaining his remark, Poonawalla referred to PM Modi’s video message released on the night of July 31, in which the Prime Minister said he wanted to forgive the children who had used abusive language against him, constitutional authorities and his late mother during the Cockroach Janta Party-led protests.
“It’s been 12 years and he is a failure. He doesn’t know how to be a dictator properly. Instead of being a dictator, he released a video last night and, to the kids who have abused him, constitutional authorities, his mother, he says these are just ‘mischievous’ kids and forgives them,” Poonawalla said.
Draws Comparison With Nehru-Gandhi Family
Poonawalla contrasted PM Modi’s response with what he described as the conduct of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
“Rahul Gandhi is a descendant of Indira Gandhi, of (Jawaharlal) Nehru. Learn from him what’s real dictatorship, what’s real Emergency,” he said, referring to former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
“Look at their history!” he added.
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Among the examples he cited were the Anna Hazare movement of 2011-12 and recent cases filed in Congress-ruled Kerala and Telangana over Instagram posts and student protests.
‘You Have Ruined Their Hopes’
Continuing his remarks, Poonawalla said, “These Left liberals, all their hopes, you have ruined them.”
Addressing the Prime Minister again at the end of the video, he said, “You are unable to be a dictator. You have failed.”
Emergency Debate Continues
Poonawalla’s remarks come amid an ongoing political exchange over the Emergency.
During a Rajya Sabha debate on July 29, Union Minister JP Nadda defended the police action against student protesters on July 20, saying he had himself been arrested from his classroom multiple times during the Emergency imposed under Congress rule.
He described such arrests as “a very normal situation” for any student activist.
Nadda’s remarks came in response to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s demand for action over the lathi-charge and use of tear gas during the July 20 ‘Sansad Chalo’ march to Parliament.
Following Nadda’s statement, Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke reposted his “during the Emergency” remark on X, while CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka wrote, “You mean to say that the country hasn’t progressed one bit in the last 50 years?”
