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Congress thinking trapped by urban naxals, says PM Modi in Rajya Sabha

A day after his Lok Sabha speech where he called the Congress party as the leader of the tukde tukde (break-up) gang, Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his attack against the principal Opposition party in Rajya Sabha stating that the party’s thinking is trapped by that of the “Urban Naxals.”

“It is being said that we are trying to change history. The Congress thinking seems to have been hijacked by urban Naxals. We just want to improve the memory of some people. We are not changing history. Some people’s history is limited to one family,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Rajya Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi on February 8, 2022. Twitter/@narendramodi

Taking a dig at a statement on importance of federalism made by Congress’ Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha last week where he delved on two competing visions of India — one that viewed India as a Union of States, Modi said, “Congress has a problem with ‘nation’ also. If [the word] nation is unconstitutional, then why is your party’s name Indian National Congress. Change it to Federation of Congress. Correct the mistakes done by your predecessors.”

Modi was replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in Rajya Sabha. He spoke for 96-minutes. An hour into his speech, the Congress members walked out the House as a mark of protest.

Recalling the speech made by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge in the Upper House last week, Modi said, “Kharge ji said Congress laid the foundation of the country and BJP only foisted its flag on it. This was not said in a lighter vein, this is a result of that thinking that India was born in 1947. And it is a result of this that the people who ruled for 50 years have this thinking, this democracy is not at your mercy. You throttled democracy in 1975.”

Further attacking the Congress, Modi added, “We should say with pride that India is the mother of democracy. Congress’s problem is that they did not think beyond dynasty. The biggest threat to India is from dynastic political parties and when a family is supreme in a party, the first casualty is talent. For years the country has suffered this thinking. I expect all political parties to follow democracy in their working also, Congress should lead this initiative.”

Retorting to Kharge’s earlier speech where he narrated the contributions of his party, Modi said, “It was said that what would have happened if Congress not there...Indira is India, India is Indira. Mahatma Gandhi had understood this. I will tell you what would have happened if Congress wasn’t there -- democracy would have been devoid of dynastic influence, we would be rid of foreign influence, there would be no emergency, no caste and regional divide, no Sikh genocide would have taken place, Kashmir Pandits wouldn’t have been displaced, daughters wouldn’t have been killed in tandoor (over), if Congress wasn’t there then people wouldn’t have to wait for basic facilities, I will keep counting.”

Continuing his attack, Modi said the “Congress high command” had three ways of functioning -- to discredit, destabilise and dismiss -- and cited examples of state governments “dismissed” in the past.