Milind Deora, the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde camp) MP in Rajya Sabha on Friday extended greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his third consecutive tenure and said that despite three terms in power, the 'leader with global appeal' enjoys massive support of the masses.
His unique style of congratulating the Prime Minister and his government drew the attention of members and also made them curious for more, as the Sena leader compared his 10-year term with multiple 'change of guards' in other nations ranging from Asia to Europe and America.
Milind Deora claimed that in this age of anti-incumbency, ten years of PM Modi-led government outlasted 6 Prime Ministers of Pakistan, 5 Prime Ministers of the UK, 4 Presidents of Sri Lanka, 3 Presidents of the US and 2 Presidents of France.
The Sena leader said there was growing anti-incumbency across the globe and despite that Modi government braved the wave on the back of the Prime Minister's popularity.
"Fighting anti-incumbency has become more challenging, because of a more aware and aspirational population, social media playing a critical role in elections and also the demographic transitions across the world," he said.
Notably, the change in guards in Pakistan in the last decade saw six Prime Ministers assuming office. They included Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League-N (2013-2017), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of Pakistan Muslim League-N (2017-18), Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (2018-2022), Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League-N serving two terms, first from 2022-23 and then again becoming PM after 2024 elections.
Five PMs of the UK include David Cameroon (2010-2016), Theresa May (2016-19), Boris Johnson (2019-2022), Liz Truss (2022-2022) and Rishi Sunak (2022- till date).
Four Presidents of Sri Lanka include Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-2015), Maithripala Sirisena (2015-2019), Gotabaya Rajapaksa (2019-2022) and Ranil Wickremsinghe (2022-til date).
Three Presidents of the US include Barack Obama (2009-2017), Donald Trump (2017-2021) and Joe Biden (2021-till now).
Two Presidents of France include Francois Hollande (2012-2017) and Emmanuel Macron (2017-till date).
Taking an indirect dig at Congress, Mr Deora remarked that the Lok Sabha got its Leader of Opposition after a gap of ten years, in the form of Rahul Gandhi. Notably, Sushma Swaraj was the last person to hold this position, during the UPA II government.
In the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha, Congress could not claim the Leader of Opposition (LoP) post as the party failed to get the minimum number of 55 members elected to the House.
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