Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brief visit to Bengaluru on Saturday morning to meet the scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), following the success of Chandrayaan-3, led to a war of words between the ruling Congress and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Prime Minister requesting the Constitutional functionaries of the State to skip the protocol of receiving him at the airport and senior BJP leaders standing by the street behind barricades to cheer him, even as he met none of them, turned controversial.
No roadshow
Though BJP’s State unit had organised a roadshow of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office reportedly shot down the proposal. However, nearly a thousand party workers had gathered outside the HAL Airport, waving tricolours. A few metres away from the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network facility in Peenya, more BJP workers including senior BJP leaders like State president Nalin Kumar Kateel, R. Ashok and several city BJP MLAs had gathered to greet him. As they stood behind barricades, Mr. Modi came out on the footboard of the vehicle and waved at the supporters, but did not acknowledge any of the leaders.
Posting photos of senior BJP leaders behind barricades on social media, Karnataka Congress said the BJP State president had “come to the streets.” Till Mr. Modi’s anger at the State unit comes down, there won’t be an Opposition leader or a new party chief, the Congress said. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge said even though BJP leaders were his opponents, he felt sorry for them at their plight. “BJP leaders themselves have now become the victims of authoritarianism,” he posted on social media platform X.
However, senior BJP leader C.T. Ravi said there was no humiliation in standing with common people.
Meanwhile, Mr. Modi telling Constitutional functionaries that they need not receive him also became a point of contention. Speaking to party workers who had gathered outside HAL Airport, Mr. Modi said he had requested the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and Governor to skip the protocol since it was too early in the morning. Mr. Modi landed in the city at 6 a.m.
However, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X, “He is apparently so irritated with the CM and Deputy CM of Karnataka for felicitating the scientists of ISRO before him that he has purportedly barred the CM from receiving him at the airport, going against protocol. This is nothing but petulant petty politics.” He also reminded the Prime Minister that he, as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had visited the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad in October, 2008, after the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-I at a time when Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.
