Despite lie allegation, Modi says mother washed utensils

Notwithstanding strong criticism by the Congress which termed it a "lie", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday stuck to his September 2015 remark that his mother used to wash utensils in other people's homes.

"If the son of a woman who washed utensils in people's homes is today the prime minister, then the credit for this should go to the Constitution that B.R. Ambedkar gave," Modi said at a function here in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The prime minister launched the 'Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday' campaign to promote rural development on the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar at his birth place here.

In September last year, after he made a similar remark, the opposition Congress blasted the prime minister and had charged him with telling a "lie".

"The prime minister says his mother used to clean utensils in other people's homes. Sadly this is a lie. He is insulting his own mother," Congress leader Anand Sharma had said.

On September 28, 2015, at an event in Menlo Park in the US, Modi had become emotional while recalling the hardships his mother had to undergo, including washing utensils in neighbours' homes, to bring up her children.

Recalling his tough childhood, Modi in a choked voice and moist eyes had said in the presence of Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg: "When we were small, in order to make ends meet, my mother would wash utensils in neighbours homes.

"She used to clean the dishes, fill water, work as a labourer; you can imagine what a mother had to do to raise her children, the difficulties she went through.

"And this is not the case just of Narendra Modi. In India, there are hundreds and thousands of mothers like that who have sacrificed their entire life for their children. And that is why I salute all mothers."