What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
New Delhi: “I have been often asked by the members, what would happen if there was no Congress? I would like to say, if there was no Congress there would be no Emergency, there would be no caste politics, Sikhs would never have been massacred, the problems of Kashmiri Pandits would not have happened. Had Congress not been there, there would’ve been no incident of daughters being thrown in ‘tandoor’, Had Congress ceased to be, as Mahatma Gandhi had wished, democracy would have been free from the dynastic politics”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the Presidential address on Tuesday.
“The biggest threat to our democracy is dynastic parties. When one family gets too prevalent in a political party, political talent suffers. India would have confidently walked on the path of national resolutions, instead of taking to foreign view,” said the Prime Minister Modi in a direct attack at the Congress legacy of dynastic politics.
Mincing no words, the PM tore into the fabric of Congress and attacked various policies launched by the previous Congress governments at the Centre. He made a cutting reference to the ‘India not being Nation’ jibe by the Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. “If India is not a nation, why is your party called Indian National Congress?” he questioned.
“India’s progress will be stronger when it addresses regional aspirations keeping in mind the development of the country. When our states progress, the country progresses,” he reasoned. Training his guns at Congress, the main opposition in Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister said, “Congress high command works on three rules — discredit, destabilise and dismiss. During the Congress regime and on several occasions, they imposed President’s rule in states”.
After his rousing reply on the Motion of Thanks in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Prime Minister Modi spoke in Rajya Sabha on various issues on Tuesday and launched an all out attack on the main opposition Indian National Congress. Modi blamed the Congress and held it responsible for several ills confronting the country. He also accused the Congress of being controlled by urban Naxals, who are today influencing its thought and ideology.
“It was often said that Congress helped in India’s development while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just planted a flag. Some people think India was born in 1947. As a result, people who got the chance to work in last 60 years, were also impacted by such mentality. The democracy in our country is not just because of your compassion. They should have said this proudly, Mother India is a mother of democracy”, he said.
Speaking on the Covid-19 pandemic that gripped the entire world, the Prime Minister said that during the first lockdown, after a lot of discussions and with a little courage, it was decided that farmers in villages should be exempted from the lockdown. “It was an important decision, as a result, our farmers had bumper productivity even during a pandemic. Humankind had never seen such a crisis in the last hundred years after Covid-19 spread thick and fast. This crisis has been changing its forms, resurfacing in new types and has created immense trouble for the people. Our country and world are fighting this single biggest threat today,” he said, lauding the people for taking part in the vaccination drive. “The people of India have taken the vaccine and they have done this not merely to protect themselves but also protect others. Such conduct, in the midst of so many global anti-vaccine movements is admirable,” he complimented.
Quoting India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Prime Minister sought to rebut charges hurled by the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi during his speech in the lower house of the parliament. He read excerpts from Pt Nehru’s Independence Day address and his popular book ‘Discovery of India’ to nullify remarks by Congress leader on his government. He asserted that his government was following constitutional duties along with constitutional rights.
Countering Congress’ charge on inflation, Modi quoted Pt Nehru’s speech from the Red Fort. He said how the then Prime Minister Modi had thrown in the towel when the government failed to bring down inflation. Pt Nehru had then blamed the unrest in Korea and developments in the US for rising prices of essential items. Prime Minister Nehru had made the remarks at a time when globalisation was not a concept and emphasised that his government has done everything possible to keep food inflation in control despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2014, the inflation has ranged between four to five percent as compared to during 10 year rule of Congress-led government at the Centre, when it was in the double digits.
