Manohar Parrikar and Nitin Gadkari were present at the inauguration of the bridge in Goa. (PTI)
While Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar drew loud cheers from the crowd on Sunday when he delivered actor Vicky Kaushal's punchline from the super hit film "Uri: The Surgical Strike", it has failed to impress the opposition Congress.
The Congress said that while the BJP-led administration has "collapsed" and the state's debt is mounting, the Chief Minister is asking about the ''spirit'' among people in the state.
Mr Parrikar inaugurated a new 5.1 km-long bridge across the river Mandovi on Sunday. He began his speech with a catchy line from "Uri: The Surgical Strike", asking the crowd "how's the josh?" The crowd roared in response, "high sir". Mr Parrikar, with a tube tapped on his nose, repeated the line, and said, "I will transfer my josh to you."
"First come to your senses and then talk about josh (Pehle hosh me aao, baad me josh ki baat karo)," Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar said on Monday.
"Everyone is sleeping in the state. The ministers are sleeping and hence, the administration has collapsed. How will you see the josh among people? Just inauguration of the bridge is not enough to bring josh. The government should first come to its senses," he added.
"Uri: The Surgical Strike" is based on the September 2016 surgical strikes by the army on terror launch pads in Pakistan as a retaliation to the Uri attack that claimed the lives of 19 soldiers. Mr Parrikar was the defence minister at the time. The film even features a lookalike of Mr Parrikar.
The BJP in Goa defended its chief minister and said his public appearance and his speech during the bridge inauguration was a "slap" on the opposition's face. "Despite all what the opposition is saying, Manohar Parrikar proved them wrong. At least now stop raising a question mark on his capability to run the state," Goa BJP spokesman Damodar Naik said.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too delivered the "How's the josh" punchline on watching the film along with a group of war veterans at a multiplex in Bengaluru. "Live from Central Spirit Mall, Bellandur, Bengaluru, to watch Uri (finally) with veterans. #HighJosh!"Ms Sitharaman tweeted.
(With inputs from PTI)