In Rajya Sabha, PM Modi misquotes couplet to Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib

Replying to the ‘Motion Of Thanks on the President’s address’ in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi erroneously attributed an Urdu couplet to celebrated poet Mirza Ghalib while taking a swipe at senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Replying to the ‘Motion Of Thanks on the President’s address’ in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi erroneously attributed an Urdu couplet to celebrated poet Mirza Ghalib while taking a swipe at senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

His comment came two days after Azad had asked the BJP-led government to “keep their new India to themselves” and return our “old India.”

“Ghalib said something for such people ‘Ta umr Ghalib ye bhool karta raha, dhool chehre pe thi, aaina saaf karta raha (The whole life Ghalib made this mistake, the dust was on his face and he was cleaning the glass)’,” Modi said in his address in the upper house.

Before citing Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan’s (popularly known as Ghalib) couplet, Modi said that the Congress leader has a blurred vision maybe because he is seeing everything from a political point of view. “I think Azad sahab (Ghulam Nabi Azad) is having a blurred vision, maybe he is seeing everything from political spectacles,” the Prime Minister said, seconds before citing the couplet.

After citing the couplet, Modi said, “We have worked towards simplifying processes, which can benefit people of India. Do you want ‘old India’ where Cabinet decisions are torn in press conferences, picnics done on defence assets?”

Popular lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar too pointed out that the Urdu couplet was not written by Mirza Ghalib. “The sher that the prime minister saheb has quoted in his Rajya Sabha speech is wrongly attributed to Ghalib in the Social media. Actually both the lines are not even in the proper meter,” Akhtar tweeted.

In his President’s address, Modi touched upon varied issues, from water crisis in the country to employment. He also broke his silence on the Jharkhand lynching and said the culprits will be punished. “The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others too.But, some here in the Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. Is this fair? Why are they insulting a whole state. None of us have the right to insult the state of Jharkhand,” Modi said.

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