'Country Is Not PM, PM Is Not Country,' Says Rahul Gandhi In Parliament

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi fired on all cylinders as he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a debate on the president's address in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, peppering his speech with barbs and one-liners.

PM Modi was not in the house and nor were most of his front-line ministers. But Mr Gandhi named them all as he accused the Prime Minister of listening to none on important matters, including his ministers. "Listen to those around you... listen to the voice of the people... listen to what your country is trying to tell you," the Congress vice-president said.

The message, Mr Gandhi said, was, "the PM cannot run the country on only his opinion. The country is not the PM, the PM is not the country."

He christened the government's new black money amnesty scheme announced in the Union Budget as the "Fair and Lovely scheme" alleging it promised to turn black or untaxed money white or legitimate. 

And he attacked the Prime Minister on his sudden visit to Pakistan earlier this year, alleging that he "single handedly destroyed six years of our work" to isolate Pakistan as a supporter of terror.

Mr Gandhi also took on the Prime Minister over the death of Hyderabad student Rohith Vemula and over the recent Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU controversy.

In his speech, just over half an hour long, Mr Gandhi mocked the PM's Make in India campaign and its logo the lion - Babbar Sher, he said in Hindi - which the Congress leader said was ubiquitous, but had not translated into the jobs that PM Modi had promised. 

When he fumbled, the Congress vice president said with a broad grin, "I am not from the RSS (the ruling BJP's ideological mentor). I make mistakes."

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a Facebook post, "As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity. The more I hear Shri Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering "how much does he know - when will he know".