Stop insulting 'chaiwala': Cong to PM

The Congress on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of insulting tea-sellers with his remarks and said that as someone who claimed to be a 'chaiwala' once, he "should not feel pained if anyone addresses him so".

The party's reaction came after Modi attacked the Nehru-Gandhi family, saying they were still asking as to how could a "chaiwala" sit on the PM's chair "after their four generations ruled the country".

Congress leader Pawan Khera said no profession is small and asked Modi "why do you consider being called a 'chaiwala' a humiliating comment".

"Stop insulting a tea seller just because you are the Prime Minister. You will insult a tea seller. Sorry, this will not be acceptable," he told reporters.

"Before winning the election, Modi used to say he is a 'chaiwala'. Why do you consider being called a 'chaiwala' a humiliating comment. Is any profession small.

"Now that you have become the prime minister, why you have started considering this work as small and if someone called you a 'chaiwala', you feel pained," he said.

Khera alleged that in the last four-and-a-half years, Modi has "only practised speeches and given them".

"Now you must think about the country and do something for it. You had made a lot of promises to youths, farmers, small businessmen," he said.

Modi on Friday said that Congress leaders were saying that it was due to Jawaharlal Nehru, "that a chaiwala became the prime minister".

"If you so much respect the democracy, do a small thing. If you claim that because of your principles, your faith in democracy, the Constitution and Pandit Nehru, Modi, a chaiwala, could become the PM, appoint someone good from outside the (Gandhi) family as the Congress president for just five years," he said.

"They still keep crying. How could a chaiwala sit (on the PM's chair). How could he? They still cannot fathom how come the son of a poor mother could sit on the 'raj gaddi' (throne of power)," he said addressing election rallies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Modi said people have rejected that it was the "right of only one family" to speak from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi.

"You can't understand the difficulties faced by the poor, but a chaiwala can," Modi said in a veiled attack on the Congress and the Gandhis.

In Shahdol (MP), Modi said he was ready for a contest between the performance of "four generations" of the Nehru-Gandhi family and that of "four years of a chaiwala".

"What have the governments of four generations of a family given to the nation and what has a chaiwala given in four years. Come on, let there be a contest," he said.