The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party launched its counter-attack on the no-confidence motion with a personal attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and by highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credentials as a member of the Other Backward Classes or OBC.
Nishikant Dubey, a BJP Member from Jharkhand who opened the counter-attack from the ruling benches, started his speech by mocking Rahul Gandhi, widely seen as Congress Party's prime ministerial candidate for the next general election.
"I was expecting Rahul Gandhi to speak, perhaps he woke up late," said Dubey, drawing laughter and appreciation from the ruling benches. He was replying to a scalding attack from Gaurav Gogoi, who chose to open the innings for the opposition in what is expected to be a two-day slug-fest over Manipur violence in the guise of a no-confidence motion.
Before addressing the points raised by the opposition, Dubey devoted some more attention to Rahul Gandhi, especially on the latter's refusal to apologize to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark on 'Modi surname' that landed the Congress leader in legal trouble.
"He has refused to apologize. After all why would he," Dubey went on.
"Modi is from a low caste, OBC. Why would he apologize to an OBC. He's a big person," he said, referring to Modi's background in a community that finds a place in the 'Other Backward Classes' category in Gujarat.
Later in his speech, Dubey also tried to paint the no-confidence motion as an attack on "the son of a poor man".
"Today, they want to bring a no-confidence motion against someone who gave people buildings, drinking water, who built toilets for people, who tried to bring light into people's homes. The motion is against the poor. Today, they will tear apart Narendra Modi's policies, just like they tore apart Draupadi," Dubey went on, referring to a character in the epic, Mahabharata.
The counter-attack -- and the decision to emphasize Modi's OBC credentials -- can be seen as an attempt to shore up BJP's support among intermediate castes.
The intermediate castes, most of which find a place in the OBC classification, had in 2019 voted in higher numbers than usual for the BJP, despite the saffron party's traidtional image an upper-caste dominated outfit.
This had led to a weakening of the support base for many OBC- and Dalit-focused parties during the 2019 elections and was a key factor behind Modi's return to power.
Meanwhile, kicking off the no-confidence motion debate, young Congress Party leader Gaurav Gogoi had launched a stinging attack on the prime minister, questioning his commitment to law and order and justice, and asking why he did not utter a word against Manipur violence for nearly 80 days.
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