Narendra Modi cites Indira to attack Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked him for being “autocratic” and taking “unilateral decisions” without taking his Cabinet colleagues into confidence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday adopted a consensual approach and reached out to the Opposition, seeking its suggestions and cooperation for improving governance. At the same time, he attacked the Congress for disruptions in Parliament as well as for failing to curb poverty, but didn’t say a word on burning issues like the JNU row and Rohith Vemula’s suicide in Hyderabad.

Replying to the motion of thanks on the President’s address, Mr Modi showed flashes of wit in the Lok Sabha while delivering a flurry of jibes at the Opposition, mainly the Congress, in the course of his 75-minute speech.

Criticising the Congress for disrupting Parliament and stalling bills, he said the main Opposition party was doing so due to the “inferiority complex” of its top leaders. To add to the sarcasm, the PM repeatedly quoted statements by former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi over the stalling of Parliament proceedings.

He deplored the “tu tu, main main” (blame game) attitude of political parties for “scoring points”, saying officialdom rejoices over this while the nation suffers. “This government also needs improvement which cannot happen without your help. I am new, you are experienced. I need the benefit of your experience. Governments will come and go. Let us work shoulder to shoulder,” Mr Modi said while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President, which was approved later.

Read: Narendra Modi squares off debate in Lok Sabha

He said a democratic country like India could not be left at the mercy of the bureaucracy as he sought to underline the legislature’s importance, saying even a single MP of any party should be treated “like a prime minister”. But Mr Modi made no mention of burning issues that were raised by Rahul Gandhi and several other leaders over the past few days, including the JNU row, black money, the suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, and his visit to Pakistan in December 2015. Instead, the PM trained his guns at the Congress, attacking it for its failure to curb poverty over the past 60 years.

“You (Congress) boldly say that during the elections I had promised to rid the country of poverty. But you made poverty so deep-rooted that it is difficult to uproot it... You must be saying ‘Modi, you yourself will be uprooted but poverty will not go’ ... Still, we are making efforts. To uproot poverty, a lot of efforts need to be made. I realised how deep-rooted poverty is only when I came here (after becoming PM),” the former Gujarat CM said.

Asking the Congress to accept that it brought the country to such a pass, Mr Modi said had there been no poverty, there would have been no need for MNREGA. Taking on the Congress, he said it was suffering from a “feeling of jealousy” as it ws concerned why the NDA government was doing “well”. He said the Congress was worried as “what we could not do in 60 years, how could you do it?”

He compared the performance of his government with the UPA governments, particularly in constructing roads and the implementation of MNREGA. “I invite intellectuals to study Atalji’s Gram Sadak Yojana and MNREGA,” Mr Modi said.

Talking about the Food Security Act brought by the UPA, he said it was not implemented by four Congress-ruled states, including poll-bound Kerala. “You enjoy talking (about) Gujarat... Your own government in Kerala has not implemented it. You are going to the polls there with full force. People will ask why your government did not implement FSA,” he said. On the new Crop Insurance Scheme, Mr Modi said it will come into force in all states from April 1 this year.

Without directly naming Rahul Gandhi, the PM appeared to be responding to remark on Wednesday that he should listen to others. “It is easy to preach to others... There are some people to whom all kinds of questions are asked. But there are some others to whom nobody dares to ask questions,” he said.

“I have been questioned, I have faced criticism and accusations over the last 14 years. I have learnt to live with it,” said Mr Modi, apparently referring to the attacks on him in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

While hitting out at Rahul Gandhi for criticising his government, the PM sarcastically recalled how the Congress vice-president had torn at a press conference an ordinance approved by the Cabinet headed by Manmohan Singh, which included veterans like A.K. Antony, Sharad Pawar and Farooq Abdullah. He also took on Rahul for mocking the government’s ambitious “Make in India” programme, and wondered if such a scheme should be made fun of. “You are mocking ‘Make in India’? If it is not successful, you should suggest what should be done to make it successful,” he said.

Referring to the disruptions in Parliament, as a result of which several bills, including GST, was stuck, Mr Modi said: “The House is not allowed to function due to the inferiority complex (of the Opposition leadership).” Spelling this out, he appeared to suggest that top Congress leaders were not allowing “young” and “bright” leaders to emerge fearing that they may overshadow Rahul Gandhi.

“In the Opposition there are bright and talented youngsters who don’t get a chance to speak... They do a lot of study... The concern is that if they do speak, they will be praised. Then what will happen to us?” mocked the PM.