Modi will hoist Tricolour next year, but from home: Kharge’s dig at PM’s Red Fort remark

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said during his Independence Day speech at the Red Fort on Tuesday (August 15) that he would unfurl the Tricolour in the same place next year, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said he will indeed hoist the flag, but at his residence.

The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held next year, and Modi in effect suggested that the NDA will return to power and he will again be the Prime Minister and address the nation from the ramparts of the iconic fort. He said he would list the nation’s progress then.

Oppn slams “arrogance”

Kharge hit out at the Prime Minister for his “arrogance” and also for criticising the Opposition. “What he is saying smacks of arrogance. It is 2023 and to say that he will again unfurl the national flag in 2024 (at the Red Fort) is speaking out of durankaar, ahankaar (arrogance),” the Congress chief told reporters when asked about the prime minister's remarks.

“He (the PM) keeps on criticising the Opposition, and if he keeps doing so even on Independence Day, then what kind of India will he make?” remarked Kharge, who skipped the Independence Day function at the Red Fort. “He (the PM) will again unfurl the flag, but at his own house,” he added.

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said, “It is the power of the people to decide who will deliver the speech at Red Fort next year. We should leave it to them.” Another Congress leader, Ajoy Kumar, alleged that Prime Minister Modi cannot control the corruption in his government, which is being exposed in the CAG reports.

“This is Modi-ji’s state during Amritkaal and Kartavaya kaal. The student who fails keeps talking about passing,” he said on the PM’s remarks at the Red Fort. “He is scared. Modi-ji is scared,” Kumar said.

AAP MP Sushil Kumar Gupta said, “I feel strange that he is unable to give his report card even after being in power for nine years. To say that he will give his report card next year, how it is possible? He should have given his report card, as people have given him enough time. It is the will of the public as to who they would prefer to unfurl the national flag next year,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

“Modi ki guarantee”

Modi on Tuesday outlined a picture of a resurgent India globally on his watch and exuded confidence in his last Independence Day speech before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls that he will address people from Red Fort again next year, even as he attacked the Opposition over issues of corruption, dynastic politics and appeasement.

Modi called for promoting “suchita, pardarshita, and nishpakshta” (probity, transparency, and impartiality) in every sphere of life and governance and, in a clear re-election bid ahead of the national elections, warned people against dynastic parties who worked with the mantra of “by the family, of the family, and for the family”.

The next five years are a period of unprecedented development and will prove to be a golden period in realising the dream of developed India by 2047, he asserted, assuring people of “Modi ki guarantee” that the country will become the third largest economy.

(With agency inputs)