India's democracy not a favour done by Congress, says Modi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 8

Launching a scathing attack on the opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India’s democracy “is not a favour done by the Congress” and such thoughts are propagated with a mindset that the country was born in 1947.

Reminding the Congress leaders’ claim on “what would have happened had Congress been not there”, the Prime Minister took a jibe and said if the party was not there, “the country would not have seen Emergency in 1975, the massacre of Sikhs would not have taken place in 1984 and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in 1990s would not have taken place”.

The Prime Minister attacked the Congress as part of his reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha.

Modi’s remarks against the Congress party on the lines of “what would have happened if the Congress wasn’t around...” led to a ruckus in the House forcing him to briefly halt his address, as the opposition party briefly staged a walkout.

Noting that family-run parties are the biggest threat to India’s democracy, the Prime Minister said the Congress had greater responsibility to correct this malice.

Accusing the Congress of creating hurdles in the country’s development, the Prime Minister alleged that the Grand Old Party is in the grip of urban Naxals, who are today controlling its thought and ideology and that is why it has become negative.

Modi suggested that the opposition party change its name from Indian National Congress to ‘Federation of Congress’, as its leader has objection to ‘nation’ and fixation with federalism to the extent that states are units independent of Union of India.

He also attacked the Congress for sacking over 50 state governments of several parties during its over 50-year rule at the Centre.

Turning to development, Modi said that India is the only country in the world, which is witnessing high economic growth with medium level of inflation at around 4-5 per cent, which was in double digits before 2014.

“The US is facing the worst inflation in 40 years. The UK is facing the worst inflation in 30 years. Similar trends are visible in many other European countries. However, we have kept the inflation in check in the range of 4 -5 per cent. During the UPA regime, inflation had touched double digits. We are the only large economy with high growth and medium inflation,” the PM said.

The Prime Minister also criticised the opposition parties for doubting the efficacy of the indigenous Covid vaccines. “Some of the leaders of the opposition parties showed immaturity in the last two years. We have seen how games were played due to political vested interests. Campaigns were launched against Indian vaccines to create doubts in the minds of the people,” he said.

"Some people need self-introspection. When an all-party meeting over the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic was called and the government gave a detailed presentation, attempts were even made that some of the parties skipped such an important meeting. They themselves did not come and boycotted the meeting,” the PM said.

Modi, however, extended his appreciation for the former Union minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar. “I would like to express my gratitude to Sharad Rao ji  (Sharad Pawar). He reached out to political leaders to persuade them to take part in the ‘all-party meeting’. He, along with TMC and other parties, attended the meeting. The crisis was on the entire humankind, still, you boycotted the meet,” he said, while attacking the Congress, which had skipped the all-party meeting on Covid management last year.

The Prime Minister also hailed the startup eco-system, saying the number of unicorns in India within a year had surpassed the total unicorns created in India ever.

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