PM Modi blames Congress-era policies for hindering India's growth post-independence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India failed to achieve the level of success it deserved after independence due to the policies of successive Congress governments.

Speaking at a public meeting in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar, the PM said the country was first held back by the licence-quota raj, which cut India off from global markets, and later by an over-reliance on imports during the era of globalisation.

“India has plenty of potential, but it was ignored after independence. For many years, Congress governments kept the country trapped in the license-quota raj. And when globalisation began, the only path they chose was imports,” Modi said.

He said that Congress policies, along with scams during the UPA years, damaged the future of young people and stopped India’s true strength from coming out.

The Prime Minister said the country’s biggest enemy today is not another nation, but dependence on others.

“We have no major enemy in the world. Our real enemy is our reliance on other countries. This dependence must be defeated together,” he said.

Modi said self-reliance is not just about the economy, but also about pride, security and the future of 1.4 billion people. “The more dependent we are, the weaker our future becomes. We cannot leave India’s growth in the hands of others. There is only one cure for many problems, and that is a self-reliant India,” he said.

The PM pointed to the example of energy, saying India spends lakhs of crores every year on crude oil and gas from abroad, which creates jobs and wealth in other countries instead of at home. “It was important to change this situation. That is why India is moving towards self-reliance in energy,” he added.

At the ‘Samudra se Samriddhi’ event in Bhavnagar, PM M also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for projects worth over Rs 34,200 crore in ports, energy, health, transport and urban development.