Don’t cross ‘Lakshman rekha’, Modi tells MPs

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 16

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today issued a stern warning to BJP MPs telling them not to cross the “Lakshman rekha” and hurt the government and the party in the process.

His tough talk came amid the Opposition threatening to continue with its protests against issues such as faith conversion and in turn derailing the government’s key economic reforms, including the Insurance Bill.

Addressing the party’s Parliamentary Party meeting today, the Prime Minister is believed to have told the BJP lawmakers that controversial statements made by some of them were not only hurting the party’s image but also the government’s development work. Latching on to the controversies—faith conversions and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday celebrations— the Opposition is making the most of these issues, handed over to them almost on a plate by the BJP leaders like Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sakshi Maharaj.

Jyoti’s objectionable words at a campaign rally in Delhi made the BJP vulnerable to Opposition attacks in Parliament, specifically in the Rajya Sabha where it is in a minority.