Mumbai. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot claim to be a ‘fakir’ after including a “car worth Rs 12 crore” in his convoy. In the weekly column ‘Rokhthok’ of Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Raut praised former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for always using an India-made car and not changing his security personnel despite the threat to the life of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Shiv Sena leader wrote, “On December 28, the media published a picture of a car worth Rs 12 crore brought for Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. The person who calls himself a fakir, a pradhan sevak, uses a car made abroad.” The Rajya Sabha member said, “The safety and convenience of the Prime Minister are important, but from now on, the Prime Minister should not repeat that he is a fakir.”
It is noteworthy that recently the Special Protection Group (SPG) has included a car named Mercedes Maybach S 650 in the Prime Minister’s convoy. In the media, the price of this class of car is being told around Rs 12 crore. However, government sources said that the new car has been replaced by the BMW car used by the prime minister as the German company has stopped manufacturing it. Official sources said that the SPG has set six norms for replacement of cars of people protected by it, but Modi had not expressed any choice about which car to use.
He also told that the actual price of the car is about one third of the price being reported in the media. Raut on Sunday said Modi took indigenous initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Start up India’ and he was using a foreign-made car. Praising Jawaharlal Nehru, the Shiv Sena spokesperson said he always used India-made Ambassador car after the partition of the country despite the security threat. He said that (former prime minister) Indira Gandhi did not replace the Sikh security personnel who were posted under her protection after her life was in danger. Raut said (former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi met the crowd in Tamil Nadu despite the threat.
“He (Rajiv Gandhi) should not have mingled with the crowd but he did,” Raut said. On the suggestion of the Center to impose night curfew in view of the increase in the cases of COVID-19, the Shiv Sena leader said that the central government has imposed such restrictions at night which is causing financial loss. Raut said Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav address rallies in which lakhs of people gather but the ban is only for common people.