Sen connected the prime minister’s attendance to actor Kangana Ranaut’s box office failures, cricketer Virat Kohli’s three-year drought without a century, and India’s recent defeat in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reacted strongly to this.
Why is this story important?
Sen made this claim about PM Modi a few days after Congressman Rahul Gandhi described him as “panuati (unlucky or inauspicious) Modi.”
He claimed that Team India was unlucky to have the PM present at the cricket stadium during the ICC Cricket World Cup finals last week while running for the Rajasthan Assembly elections.
Gandhi was also given a notice by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday regarding his divisive remarks.
Sen’s odd remarks regarding PM Modi’s departure
Sen asserted, as reported by ANI, that PM Modi’s attendance at the World Cup final match against Australia—which was played in a stadium bearing his name—was the reason behind India’s defeat.
The prime minister had recently flown on the Tejas fighter aircraft, he continued, so it was just “a matter of time that Tejas would crash.”
Many people were offended and condemned this comment, including the BJP.
A national BJP spokesperson responds to a TMC MP
BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla demanded that the TMC remove Sen from his position in response to Sen’s contentious remarks.
Calling Sen’s desire for the Tejas to crash “anti-forces,” he contended that it might result in the death of an Indian Air Force pilot.
Poonawalla referred to Sen’s remarks as a “new low” in national politics and urged Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, to act if there is still “an ounce of integrity left in the TMC.”
PM Modi’s flight in Bengaluru on a Tejas fighter jet
Recall that PM Modi flew the Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA), which is built in India, on Saturday in Bengaluru.
He took to X (formerly Twitter) to discuss his successful flight on the Tejas, calling the experience “incredibly enriching.”
He also said that the mission had given him much more “confidence in our country’s indigenous capabilities.”
It gave him “a renewed sense of pride and optimism about our national potential,” according to Prime Minister Modi.