Smriti Irani criticises Sonia Gandhi's Speech

NEW DELHI: I&B minister Smriti Irani has criticised Congress president Sonia Gandhi's speech in Parliament on the occasion of the Quit India Movement, calling it “lacking in passion or vision, bordering on the monotonous.”

In a social media post titled ‘Do or die, PM talks to nation, Sonia remembers family’ Irani said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forwardlooking, positive, unifying and gracious in his address, as the occasion demanded. In contrast, bent upon proving that blood is thicker than water, Sonia dwelt at length only on Nehru and his stint in jail.

Irani said Congress president Sonia Gandhi failed that test of leadership “when she chose to reduce her speech in Parliament into a long, pitiable lament over the loss of control Nehru dynasty wielded before Congress' defeat in 2014.” Great leaders are also great followers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Wednesday in Parliament to mark the occasion was proof of that axiom.

For him, the most important lesson from India’s freedom struggle was the spirit of Mahatma Gandhiji’s ‘do-or-die’ campaign, she said.