Rahul ‘congratulates’ Modi on first ‘press conference’, says next time Shah may allow him to answer questions

Billed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first press conference by breathless TV channels, a briefing by BJP president Amit Shah on Friday ended with the PM not taking any question from BJP beat reporters. A tired and sullen Narendra Modi sat silently by the side of the BJP President, who gave a monologue on the campaign.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi tweeted a tongue-in-cheek message to congratulate the Prime Minister. “Congratulations Modi Ji. Excellent Press Conference! Showing up is half the battle. Next time Mr Shah may even allow you to answer a couple of questions. Well done!”

There were other startled comments on Twitter like this one:

The ‘briefing’ lasted for over 50 minutes, prompting observers to quip that this was the longest time when the Prime Minister has been silent despite having a microphone before him. Others felt that it signalled that the prime Minister was not really in command.

When a reporter insisted on the Prime Minister answering a question, a stern Amit Shah asserted that the PM did not have to answer all questions. The PM had been asked whether he would ask Pragya Singh Thakur to step down if she won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Bhopal after the PM said to day that he would never forgive her for insulting Mahatma Gandhi.

The question was diverted to Amit Shah, who reiterated that a notice had been served on Pragya Thakur and other BJP leaders who gave statements lionising the Mahatma’s assassin Nathuram Godse. Once their replies are received, they would be referred to the party’s disciplinary committee, said Shah.

The ‘press conference’ was later described as a ‘BJP briefing’ .

The Prime Minister did make a rambling statement in which he requested Amit Shah to help those journalists who wanted to carry out research into how a political party functions. He boasted that not a single rally of his during the campaign had to be cancelled.

He also appeared to pre-judge the election result when he said that after a long time a ‘majority government’ would be re-elected with a majority. Oblivious of his abusive election campaign, the Prime Minister declared that he had been addressing people as part of ‘Thanksgiving’ for affording him the opportunity to serve the people. He also sought people’s blessings and felt that people were ready to shower their blessings on him for another term.