Update on PM Modi's speech: Modi's blistering attack on CONG

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a verbal attack on the Congress today, accusing it of following the British approach of “divide and rule” to dominate a multicultural, diverse society. In response to Rahul Gandhi’s charges that the administration was harming federalism, he replied that it was the Congress that had a “divisive mentality.”

PM Modi paid rich tributes to singing legend Lata Mangeshkar, who passed away on Monday, saying her contribution strengthened the unity of the country Mangeshkar was cremated with full state honours in Mumbai on Sunday. She was 92. Replying to the debate on the president’s address to the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Modi began by paying tributes to Mangeshkar.

“Angrez chale gaye (the British have left), but divide and rule has remained… As a result, the Congress has risen to the top of the ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang “In response to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, he used the BJP’s pejorative for activists, non-profits, and student protesters.

“Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Andhra, Oriya, Assamese, Kaannada, Malayali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Hindustani… for hundreds of years, have made their own identity.” It was his response to Rahul Gandhi, who claimed last week in parliament that the Constitution refers to India as a "Union of States" rather than a country, and that the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are "playing with the country's foundation."

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, my grandmother, was shot 32 times. My father, Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, was blown to bits. I’m aware of what it is. You’re messing with something potentially harmful. “If you don’t stop, you’ll create a problem,” Rahul Gandhi had said. Gandhi also described the absence of the concept of Tamil Nadu from India’s institutions as “attempts to provoke Tamil feelings.”

“Rashtra is not a system of rule or governance for us; it is a living soul. People have been tied to it for 1000 years,” PM Modi said today, quoting the Vishnu Puran, an ancient Hindu book.

“Those who can’t stop us democratically are trying to stop us by indiscipline. But they’ll fail. The Congress’s will to come to power has ended. But when you’re not getting anything, ruin something at least.” In the early days of the migrant crisis, the Prime Minister also accused the opposition of being responsible for the countrywide spread of Covid and the migration issue, claiming that this was "paap (sin)." "You people forced the laborers into troubles," he said, referring to the opposition-controlled governments in Maharashtra and Delhi.

 “The Congress went too far,” he claimed. “During the first wave, the Congress supplied tickets to labourers to go and transmit coronavirus at the Mumbai railway station… The government deployed microphones on jeeps in slums to go home, and arranged buses,” the Prime Minister stated, adding that coronavirus spread in Uttar Pradesh and other places “where corona wasn’t as intense.”

Along with blaming the government for the pandemic, PM Modi said that the opposition has never acknowledged the government’s accomplishments.

“Farmers produced record amounts of food grains under Covid, when the Indian economy was the fastest growing in the world… There were food shortages in many countries. This country, on the other hand, did not allow anyone to be hungry. India has provided free rations to over 80 crore people and continues to do so “he stated.

All of this was done on purpose, he claimed, because “some people thought Corona would ruin Modi’s image.” “Is the country or the people not yours? Aren’t their joys and sorrows also yours?” He added.

“Not just me, the entire country is fed up” with the Congress’s behaviour, he said, citing as example, states that have not elected the Congress in decades.

“In 1988, the people of Nagaland voted for the Congress last. Odisha voted for you last in 1995 – it has been 27 years. In 1994, you won majority in Goa single-handedly, but Goa didn’t accept you since. In 1988, in Tripura, 34 years ago, you got the mandate. In 1985, it was the turn of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. In West Bengal, they voted for you last in 1972,” he stated.

Even the poor, he claimed, had deserted the Congress, despite the fact that poverty still exists. Citing the Congress slogans of “Garibi Hatao, used since 1971”, he said, “The poor in India are not traitors that they didn’t chose a government that works for them, they have awakened, that’s why you only got 44 seats.

Also Read: PM Modi mocks Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party