"Got You Exactly Where We Wanted You To Be": Derek O'Brien Takes On PM

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien has launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his jibes against the opposition alliance's INDIA name, saying they have the PM exactly where they wanted him to be.

In a video posted on Twitter today, Mr O'Brien said the only response that the Prime Minister can give on the 26-party alliance's name is a negative one and that is just what the opposition wanted.

"Hello, Mr Prime Minister Narendra Modi. You are at it again? Attacking us with our new name INDIA, Jeetega Bharat. What's happened? The only response you can give is a negative one. You know, Mr Modi, we've got you just where we wanted you to be," the Rajya Sabha MP said. 

"We wanted you to react. We wanted you to be negative, and you're doing just that. And we'll carry on, spreading the word INDIA," he added. 

Addressing BJP workers in poll-bound Rajasthan earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that merely changing the opposition's name to INDIA, short for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, will not be enough to mislead people. 

He also cited examples of the East India Company and the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) to say that just having India in an organisation's name does not mean it has the right intentions. He had used similar examples at a meeting of the BJP parliamentary party on Tuesday, while slamming the opposition as "directionless". 

"They keep praising themselves for the name INDIA. Indian National Congress. East India company. Indian Mujahideen. Popular Front of India - these are also INDIA. Just using the name INDIA does not mean anything," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had quoted the Prime Minister as saying in Tuesday's meeting. 

During his address in Rajasthan today, PM Modi said the opposition coalition had changed its name from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to INDIA to hide its past wrongdoings. 

"They (opposition) changed their name from the UPA to INDIA to hide how they schemed against the poor. They have changed their name so that they can remove the stain of capitulating to terror. Their ways are similar to that of the country's enemy. The name INDIA is not to show their patriotism, but with an intention to rob the country," he said.