PM Narendra Modi rips through Congress over North-South rant ‘to divide country’

New Delhi, February 7

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a frontal attack on the Congress besides laying out the NDA’s roadmap for growth in reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

PM didn’t mention jobs, price rise: Kharge

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the PM’s speech only focused on criticising the Congress and did not touch upon unemployment, price rise and economic inequality

White paper likely today

FM Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to table a white paper on economy under the UPA govt in the LS on Thursday. In turn, the Cong plans to release a ‘black paper’ on economy under the NDA.

Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Finance Bill, 2024, thus completing the exercise for passage of the interim budget 2024-25. The Finance Bill, 2024, does not propose any change in the tax structure as the final budget will be tabled in July after the new government assumes office post the General Election in April-May.

Accusing the Congress of creating fresh narratives to divide the country, PM Modi said the party was now trying to create a North-South divide. “The Congress party ceded large chunks of the country’s land to the enemy but is now giving sermons to us on internal security,” he said, picking up from where he left off in his reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The PM said the Congress and its government in Karnataka should stop attempting to create a North-South divide as that would jeopardise the country’s future. He was referring to the protest by the Congress led by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in Delhi over the alleged “injustice” meted out by the Centre on devolution of tax share to the state.

In his 90-minute speech, considered his last in Parliament before the Lok Sabha elections, PM Modi said: “The Congress has been against Dalits, Backward Classes and tribals, and had it not been for Babasaheb Ambedkar, they would not have got any reservation.”

Citing a letter written by Jawaharlal Nehru to chief ministers, PM Modi said it clearly stated that the first Prime Minister was against reservation of any kind, especially in jobs, as it adversely affected the functioning of the government.

“The Congress which never gave complete reservation to OBCs, which never gave reservation to the poor of the general category, which did not consider Baba Saheb worthy of Bharat Ratna… they are now preaching us,” he said.

The PM’s remarks came against the backdrop of the Congress accusing the Modi government of running away from caste census and promising to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservation.

PM Modi also mocked the Congress and its “Yuvraj” for “repeated misfiring and failed launches”. “The Congress made its Yuvraj a ‘start-up’ but the sad part is that he has remained a ‘non-starter’. The Congress has been trying to launch and relaunch its Yuvraj but it is neither getting lifted nor launched,” he said to cheers from the ruling party benches.

The Prime Minister also enumerated a couple of path-breaking programmes in the 10 years of the NDA governance, including Digital India and drone production, and said their resounding success, once seen as dud and non-starter, was a testament to government’s resolve for nation’s development.

Turning to development and economics, the PM said Viksit Bharat was “not just word play, it is our commitment”. Laying down the “all-round development roadmap for the next five years in making India aatmanirbhar”, the PM promised to completely transform the public transport system. “Modi 3.0 will put all its might to strengthen the country’s foundation to make it a Viksit Bharat. We will continue providing free food grains to poor and cheaper medicines, this is Modi’s guarantee,” he declared. (With PTI inputs)