Congress slams PM Modi over ‘suicide note’ joke, calls it ‘insensitive’

PTI

New Delhi, April 27

The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over him cracking a joke on a suicide note, with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra saying that the PM and those laughing heartily at his joke ought to educate themselves better rather than “ridicule” mental health issues in an “insensitive” manner.

Prime Minister Modi, while speaking at a media channel conclave on Wednesday, shared a joke about a professor, whose daughter committed suicide, being upset over a wrong spelling in her suicide note despite his efforts to teach her for so many years.

The joke was made by the prime minister while also remarking that the editor-in-chief of the channel had started speaking well in Hindi.

In a tweet in Hindi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said thousands of families lose their children to suicide and “the prime minister should not make fun of them”.

Tagging the video of Modi’s joke at the conclave, Priyanka Gandhi tweeted, “Depression and suicide, especially among the youth IS NOT a laughing matter. According to NCRB data, 164033 Indians committed suicide in 2021. Of which a huge percentage were below the age of 30. This is a tragedy not a joke.” “The Prime Minister and those laughing heartily at his joke ought to educate themselves better and create awareness rather than ridicule mental health issues in this insensitive, morbid manner,” the Congress general secretary said on Twitter and tagged PM Modi and ‘The Live Love Laugh Foundation’ that deals with mental health issues.

The Congress also shared the video of Modi’s remarks on Twitter and criticised him.

In a tweet, the opposition party said, “The Prime Minister is telling a ‘joke’ on ‘suicide’. How can anyone be so insensitive about suicide?” “Government statistics show that in 2021 more than 1.64 lakh Indians committed suicide. Every day 450 people are forced to commit suicide in our country and this is a ‘joke’ for the prime minister,” it said.

Asked about the remarks at a press conference, Congress’ media department head Pawan Khera said such remarks do not behove the post of prime minister.

The AAP also slammed the prime minister over his remarks.

“Imagine the insensitive disregard for human life by our Prime Minister who needs to crack a joke on suicide!?!? Ironically, when this ‘Anpadh PM’ makes a sick and cruel joke on a girl’s suicide, the nation is expected to laugh,” the Arvind Kejriwal-led party said in a tweet.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also criticised Modi’s remarks.

“Respected PM, I won’t share the triggering video where you cracked a joke on suicide while the audience laughed at the insensitive ‘joke’, however I’d definitely like to remind you that 2021 NCRB data shows that over 1.5 lakh Indians committed suicide, also deaths by suicide increased by 7.2% as compared to 2020,” Chaturvedi tweeted.

“We as a nation need to be more sensitive to depression and mental health issues with you leading the change not mocking their plight,” she said.

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