Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Friday said that it is better to sell tea than to sell out the nation.
Taking on Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Aggarwal, who said that a tea seller should not have dreams of becoming the nation's prime minister, Modi told a rally here: "The people will decide if a tea-seller will be PM or not. It's better to sell tea than to sell out the nation."
"Is it a crime to be poor, is it a crime to feed oneself by selling tea," he asked.
Aggarwal on Thursday issued a clarification on his controversial tea seller remark on Gujarat Chief Minister, saying that his words had been twisted out of context.
"My statement was misconstrued by the media. I apologise if my statement hurt the sentiments of the poor, but I will not apologise to Narendra Modi," Aggarwal said.
On Wednesday, Aggarwal had said in Hardoi that a person who used to sell tea cannot have a national perspective.
More From This Section
"Narendra Modi wants to become a PM. Someone rising from a tea shop can never have a national perspective. Like, if you make a "sipahi" (constable) as "kaptan" (Superintendent of Police) he can never have SP"s approach but will have that of a constable," Aggarwal had said controversially.
"As far as the crowd is concerned, a "madari" (street performer) also gathers it," he said taking a swipe at BJP.
At his rallies, Modi has oftened recalled his humble origins, and taken potshots at the "elite" Gandhi-Nehru family.
He said people who are ruling at the Centre "don"t know what poverty is all about, but I know it".
"I was born in a poor family, and have seen and lived in poverty. "I have sold tea at the railway station and in running trains ...those selling tea in trains know more about railways than the minister," Modi said at a recent rally in Patna.