New Delhi: Launching a tirade against the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said he was pursuing Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ and accused the grand old party of eulogising the Gandhi family when in power, at the cost of India’s development.
The Prime Minister’s speech in the House was nothing less of sounding a poll bugle as he not only attacked the Congress but also listed the various achievements of his government since 2014.
Replying to a debate in both Houses of Parliament on the motion of thanks for the President’s address, the Prime Minister asked whether the Opposition party wanted the “Old India” marked by Emergency, scams and massacre of Sikhs, as against the ‘New India’ that the BJP was seeking to create.
In hard-hitting speeches, he claimed that his government was an “aim-chaser” as it was achieving targets in a time- bound manner, unlike during the Congress governments which only made announcements and never completed the projects.
Congress accused of triggering Partition
He said the non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks were a “sin” of the UPA government, alleging that the Congress was spreading lies to create a sense of disappointment among the middle class about his government. He also gave figures to rebuff opposition criticism on unemployment and other issues.
While Modi spoke for nearly 90 minutes in the Lok Sabha which was marred by continuous slogan-shouting by Congress members from the Well, he delivered a 70-minute speech in the Rajya Sabha later.
In the Lok Sabha, he accused the Congress of dividing the country at the time of independence for selfish interests.
“This is the same party that divided India. For decades, one party devoted all their energies in singing paeans to one family. The interests of the nation were over-looked just for the interests of one family,” he said.
“If your direction and intentions were right, then the country would have developed many times more,” Modi said.
