NEW DELHI: A leader of a reserve and quiet dignity, former prime minister Manmohan Singh had a keen taste for Urdu verses, and his poetic banters with BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha are among the most viewed parliamentary debates on social media.During a fierce debate in Parliament in 2011, the then Lok Sabha opposition leader Swaraj deployed Varanasi-born poet Shahab Jafri’s ‘sher’ to fire a salvo at Prime Minister Singh, whose government was beginning to be mired in corruption charges.She said during the debate, “‘Tu idhar udhar ki na baat kar, yeh bata ki kafila kyun luta, humein rahjano se gila nahi, teri rahbari ka sawal hai (Instead of talking about irrelevant issues, tell us why the caravan was looted. I have no complaint against the robbers but I question your leadership).”Instead of meeting a fireful debate, Singh in his very own unassuming way invoked Allama Iqbal’s couplet to bring down the roof.He said, “‘Mana ki teri deed ke kaabil nahin hoon main, tu mera shauq dekh mera intezar dekh (Agreed I am not worthy of drawing your sight. But look at my zeal, my longing)’.
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