On 21st November (Tuesday), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a bizarre argument, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India’s defeat in the ODI Cricket World Cup Final. The Wayanad MP argued that the unbeaten Indian Cricket team would have went on to win the world cup but Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he referred to as ‘Panauti’ (bad omen/unlucky charm), made them lose the match.
The Congress prince made this remark while addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Jalore. Rahul Gandhi said, “Modi comes on TV and says ‘Hindu- Muslim’ and sometimes goes to a cricket match. It is a different matter that the match was lost. Panauti.”
Targeting PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi added, “Achhe bhale hamare ladke waha pe World Cup jeet jaate, par panauti harwa diya (our boys were almost winning the World Cup, but the ‘bad omen’ made them lose).”
Taking to its official X (formerly Twitter) handle, the Congress party also shared the clip with the caption in Hindi, “Panauti (with a wink emoji)”.
It is important to note that PM Narendra Modi was accompanied by Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, which was a scheduled event as part of India’s reformed ‘Cricket Diplomacy’ rather than a personal outing of the Indian Prime Minister. Additionally, by the time, both leaders made entry into the stadium to watch the 19th November Cricket World Cup final, Australian batters had heavily titled the match in their favour.
However, according to the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi’s entry at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad turned the match on its head otherwise Indian bowlers would have bundled out remaining seven Australian batters for less than 70 odd runs.
Following his remark, BJP leader and former Union Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Rahul Gandhi for his ‘Panauti’ remark. He said, “Rahul Gandhi chose the wrong words. What has happened to him?”
Prasad reminded Rahul Gandhi that earlier his mother Sonia Gandhi called PM Modi ‘maut ka saudagar’ at a poll rally in Gujarat and suffered political consequences for it. The BJP leader added, “Your party has not been able to win in Gujarat after your mother’s remarks. You should learn from the past.”
Cricketers lauded PM Modi for motivating Indian players
Meanwhile, yesterday (20th November), Indian Cricketers Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami shared pictures with Prime Minister Narendra Modi noting that his visit to the dressing room was ‘special’ and ‘motivating’. In the visuals, PM Modi was seen hugging pacer Mohammed Shami.
Earlier in the day (21st November), ANI shared a video revealing PM Modi’s conversation with the Indian players when he went to console them following the upset for the host side. During the interaction, PM Modi personally Invited them to meet him in Delhi and asked Indian players to keep their spirits high. He said, “You reached here after winning 10 matches. These things happen.”