PM playing victim instead of apologising for brutality on students: Congress

The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "playing the victim card" after he said he had forgiven the youth who abused him during recent protests, and demanded that he instead apologise for the "brutality" against student protesters and the trauma caused by repeated examination paper leaks.

The Opposition party also dismissed the prime minister's "Instagram Sabhas" as an act of "supreme self-obsession", claiming they were "fooling no one".

"Late last night, in an act of supreme self-obsession, the prime minister 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," Congress MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

The Congress reaction came after Modi, in an Instagram video posted late on Friday, said he was hurt that even his late mother had been subjected to "filthy abuses" during protests at Jantar Mantar. Referring to the protesters as "misguided children", the prime minister said he could understand the anger in society but appealed for them to be forgiven and guided on the right path.

In his post, Ramesh said Modi, whom he described as the "self-declared non-biological PM", was once again trying to portray himself as the victim.

He also accused the prime minister of routinely using "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 alleged.

Claiming that the public was seeking accountability rather than forgiveness, the Congress leader said the prime minister owed the country an apology.

"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.

"The entire nation is waiting for the PM to apologise for the 'Chanda Chori Astha Dhoka' by the Ram Mandir Trust, an establishment which he had grandly announced in the Lok Sabha on February 5, 2020. The entire nation is still expecting his apology for his Tughlakian notebandi of November 8, 2016, that destroyed crores of livelihoods and shuttered lakhs of MSMEs. The list is endless," Ramesh said.

With PTI inputs