Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched another blistering attack on the Congress Tuesday as he accused the opposition party of destabilising state governments, corruption, putting a family’s interests over everyone else’s and not respecting freedom of speech among others. Congress members walked out of the House during Modi’s speech in the Rajya Sabha, discussing the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, a day after he had gone after the party in the Lok Sabha. “The difficulty faced by Congress is that they never thought of anything else before the dynasty. We will have to accept that the biggest threat to India's democracy is the dynastic parties. When a family is the supreme in any party, then the first casualty is that of talent,” Modi said. He asked Congress to take the largest responsibility and establish democratic norms within the parties as well, saying it was the oldest political party in the country. Without naming him, Modi referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech last week in the Lok Sabha highlighting the country’s federal structure, and accused the opposition party of becoming a hurdle in the country’s march to progress. “When Congress was in power, they didn't allow the country's development. Now when in Opposition, they are obstructing the development of the country. They are now objecting to the nation. If the idea of nation is unconstitutional, then why is your party called Indian National Congress? Change it to the federation of Congress,” he said. ‘If it wasn’t for Congress’ The prime minister said it has been asked if Congress wasn’t there, then what might have happened to the country. He also mentioned that even Mahatma Gandhi wanted the party to be disbanded after Independence was won. But, he said, had Congress not been there, “democracy would have had been free of dynastic culture. The blot of Emergency would have not been there.” He said the country would have not faced decades of corruption, would be free of the evils of casteism, the Sikh genocide would have not taken place, Kashmiri Pandits would have not left Kashmir and Punjab would not have burned for years. He also said that daughters would have not been burned in ovens and people would not have to wait for years for basic facilities like house roads, electricity, water, and toilets. As almost all Congress MPs got up and walked out, Modi took another shot at them, saying, “They are so used to giving others lectures, they find it tough to listen to others.” He said in a democracy one cannot just make others listen, listening to others is also needed. Modi stated it has been said in the House before that Congress had laid the foundations of the country, and the BJP just “hoisted its flag”. “It wasn't said like a joke in the House. It's the result of serious thinking that's dangerous to the nation - some people believe that India was born in 1947. Problems arise due to this thinking,” he said. He said this mindset has had “an impact on the policies of those who received the opportunity to work for the last 50 years. It gave birth to perversions. This democracy is not due to your generosity. Those who strangulated democracy in 1975 should not talk about it." Rebutting accusations that the government is trying to change history, he said, “We just want to correct the memory of some people, and increase their memory power. For some people history begins just a few years ago, we want to take them further back… For some people, history is restricted to a family. What can we do?” “It is not right for the country’s future, to forget its proud history,” Modi said. Congress, he said, has been “trapped by the urban Naxals” and their “thought process has been captured by urban Naxals” making their thought-process “destructive”. Earlier, he said, national resources helped fill coffers of a few families, but now “national estates are filling the country’s coffers”. ‘Playing games for political self-interest’ Defending the government’s handling of the pandemic situation, Modi said that “till the times pandemic continues, the government is committed to spending whatever is needed to help the poorest of the poor.” But, he added that “some political parties showed immaturity in the last two years, and it has harmed the country.” He accused some leaders of “playing games for their political self-interests” and said that they had launched a “campaign against vaccines”. “But people did not listen to them, and waited in lines for the vaccines. Country’s citizens have moved past some political leaders.” The crisis provided an opportunity for the country’s federal structure to be used effectively, said Modi. “I don’t believe any Prime Minister had so many opportunities to hold meetings with Chief Ministers.” He said he held 23 meetings, in which strategies were created after detailed discussions, and everyone’s efforts contributed. “We don’t belittle anyone’s contribution, we consider it the country’s strength.” “Some people need self-introspection. When an all-party meeting over Covid-19 was held and the government was supposed to give a detailed presentation, attempts were made to speak to some political parties to convince them to not attend it. They themselves did not come and boycotted the meeting… This crisis was on the country, on humanity. That too you boycotted. Don’t know who is advising you. The country is moving forward, but you are stuck.” Regarding India’s economy, Modi said everyone must focus on how to take the country forward in the next 25 years when India completes 100 years of Independence. "India is among the top three nations in terms of start-ups due to efforts of youth," he said, adding the government is focussed on infra projects to help generate employment opportunities during the pandemic. The Medium Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME) sector provides the highest employment, said Modi and stated, “We similarly have the agriculture sector. We ensured that no hindrance comes before them. As a result, there was bumper productivity and govt made record purchases. Farmers received higher MSP. They received money directly into bank accounts.” Towards the end of his speech, Modi said the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had refused to send the Indian Army to liberate Goa, which resulted in the killings of many Goans fighting for freedom. “Goa cannot forget this attitude of the Congress,” he said, as Nehru was more concerned about his international image, instead of sending the Army to help in Goa. Touching upon the freedom of speech issues, Modi cited some examples where people were jailed for criticising Nehru, and Lata Mangeshkar’s brother was fired from All India Radio for doing a show based on poems written by V D Savarkar.
