New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attacked Congress asking it to "shun its arrogance" and accusing it of forcing people into hardship during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The PM made the remarks during his reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in Lok Sabha today. "You can oppose me, but why are you (Congress) opposing the Fit India Movement and other schemes? No wonder you were voted out in many states years ago...I think you have made up your mind not to come to power for the next 100 years," the PM said. He added: "Now that you (Congress) have made up your mind not to come to power for the next 100 years,then, 'Maine bhi tyaari kar li hai' (I too am ready)," the PM said in a sharp reaction to Rahul Gandhi's speech in the parliament a few days ago.
He said that India has made solid progress and the poor in the country were able to have their own houses. ''We have made solid progress. We have shown the pace to PM Awaas Yojana which has now ensured that the house of the poor is being made in ‘lakhs’. The poor who gets house is now becoming ‘lakhpati’".
Congress, he said, had "crossed limits" and "committed a sin" with the kind of political moves it tried to pull off during the pandemic. "During the first wave of COVID19, you (Congress) gave free train tickets to migrant workers to leave Mumbai. Delhi government told migrant workers to leave the city and provided them buses intending to promote Covid spread rapidly in Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand," he said.
He further claimed that none of the states that brought Congress to power has truly accepted the party. "Nagaland voted for Congress 24 years ago, Odisha voted for you 27 years ago, you also won with full majority in Goa 28 years ago. In 1988, Tripura also voted for Congress. West Bengal voted for Congress in 1972. You even take credit for the creation of Telangana but the public did not accept you in any of the states," the PM said.
"Some people have a problem with 'Make in India' because, for them, it means that there will be no corruption, they won't be able to gather money...we have made an attempt to resolve all pending issues of the defense sector," he said. Digging into the past, the prime minister said Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, while delivering his speech from Lal Qila, had once said that any disturbance in Korea or the US caused inflation in India. "It's a shame that they blamed other countries for the inflation. But we have not let the economic failures in the US or any other country touch us. We remain unaffected," he claimed.
The PM also claimed that Congress works on the "divide and rule" policy, and has therefore become the leader of Tukde Tukde Gang. "Congress attempted to hurt Tamil sentiments, it wants to divide & rule the country...I want to salute Tamil Nadu citizens who lined the streets for hours to pay tribute to CDS Gen Bipin Rawat," he added.
The PM also brought up the issue of the small farmers, saying that they have to be brought into focus for the development in the agricultural sector. "We need to strengthen our small farmers. Our focus is on them. But those who don't know the pain of small farmers, who have been living in palaces for a long time, don't have any right to do politics in their name," he added.
Modi said that India was the fastest developing economy among the economic superpowers of the world. "Our farmers have created record yield in the past years. Nobody in the country has died of hunger because we have provided free ration to 80 crore people. Total export of the country has hit a historical high despite the pandemic; agricultural exports also hit an all-time high. Software, Mobile and Defense exports have also seen unprecedented progress. Aatmanirbhar Bharat has led the country to create its own identity in the defense sector on an international level," he said.
He also claimed to have achieved great economical feats in logistics, supply chain, chemical industry in India, while the entire world was facing a dip in the economy due to the pandemic. "But we did not let these problems reach our farmers. They have remained untouched by any of these problems because we protected them," he added.
Read: PM Modi's reply on Motion of Thanks to President's address in Lok Sabha
