First Lalu, now A Raja: INDIA bloc keeps lobbing full tosses at Modi, BJP

Seizing on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad’s jibe that he had no family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday coined what seemed like an election slogan: “Mera Bharat, Mera Parivar (India is my family)”.

And, around the same time the BJP was trying to create a buzz around it with senior leaders and ministers adding“Modi ka Parivar (We are Modi’s family)” to their bio on X, the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh in an unconnected move announced a new scheme for women that was one of its poll promises in the hill state. Unsurprisingly, the scheme — as part of which the government will give Rs 1,500 per month to women between 18 and 60 years from the 2024-’25 financial year — was named Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojna. Another Congress scheme named after a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, something Modi has often raised to target the party. When in power, the Congress names parks, streets, and squares after members of its first family, the PM keeps reiterating.

It is the default setting of Congressmen to name schemes or projects after the members of the Nehru-Gandhi family and they see nothing unusual or inappropriate in it. But it is this almost default setting of the Congress and Opposition parties that keeps giving the BJP and Modi the themes that they often turn into talking points for elections. Senior DMK leader A Raja’s latest remarks, which have triggered a political firestorm, are a case in point.

Raja’s remarks that India is not a country but a subcontinent as different states have different traditions, cultures, and nationalities and that the people of Tamil Nadu will not accept the BJP’s “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” chants have caused unease among several INDIA