Modi's 'suicide note' joke draws flak from Congress: ‘those laughing heartily…’

The Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a joke made by him involving a ‘suicide note’, with senior party leader Rahul Gandhi saying he should not “make fun of” thousands of families who lose their children due to suicide. Speaking at a media conclave on Wednesday, the prime minister narrated a joke about a professor reading a suicide note left behind by his daughter and expressing disappointment over a spelling mistake despite his efforts for so many years. PM Modi told the joke, which he said he had heard during his childhood, as he remarked that the editor-in-chief of the channel had started speaking well in Hindi. “Thousands of families lose their children due to suicide. The Prime Minister should not make fun of them!” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Citing the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said 1,64,033 Indians died by suicide in 2021, of which a huge percentage were below the age of 30. Hitting out at PM Modi, Priyanka Gandhi said depression and suicide among the youth is a tragedy and not a laughing matter

“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,” she wrote 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 social media and wondered "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," the Congress said in a tweet from its official Twitter handle.

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