NEW DELHI: India’s opposition Congress was under fire Friday after a senior figure used a Hindi slur to describe Prime Minister Narendra Modi, forcing it into damage control mode ahead of a key state election. “I have nothing to say on a ‘wise’ Congress leader calling me ‘Neech’. Aiyar was forced to apologise within hours and was also suspended from Congress, which denounced the “tone and language” used. Modi has used the “chai walla” jibe to his advantage, using the term to identify himself with India’s millions of poor as he seeks a re-election in 2019. The Harvard-educated Gandhi is the son of current Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated in 1991.

Source: New Strait Times December 08, 2017 08:03 UTC