Modi slams Congress for pursuing lies, corruption, nepotism and appeasement politics

While replying to the debate in the Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President's address, Mr Modi said the Congress' priority is "family first" and its policies had been focused around it. He asserted that the BJP-led NDA government was brought to power for the third consecutive time as people have faith in its development model of "nation first".

The Prime Minister also attacked the Congress for spreading the “poison” of casteism and said the party used to “hate” B.R. Ambedkar, drawing sharp reaction from the Congress MPs, including the party president and Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge.

Accusing the Congress of being against the architect of India's Constitution B.R. Ambedkar, Mr Modi recalled the Emergency of 1975-77 as well as incidents of alleged suppression of freedom of expression under the earlier regimes of the Congress. He said if the Congress respected the Constitution framers, it would not have opposed the UCC, which is mentioned in the Constitution.

“I say it with a lot of pride... for five to six decades, there was no alternative model for the people. After a long time, after 2014, the country got to witness a new model, which is not based on appeasement but 'santushtikaran' (satisfaction of all)…The earlier model, especially under the Congress, was appeasement in everything. This became the crux of its politics. It would give something to small groups and deprive others. At the time of elections, it would give false hope. It ran its politics by fooling people,” said Mr Modi.

Stressing that his government has worked for the upliftment of the poor and it stands with the middle class and the "neo-middle class" in the country, the PM said the BJP-led government focus is on optimum utilisation of resources.

In his address, Mr Modi claimed that attempts are being made to spread casteism. "Attempts are being made to spread the poison of casteism. For three decades, OBC MPs of both Houses from all parties kept demanding a commission for OBCs, but it was rejected because, perhaps, it did not suit its politics at that time. We gave constitutional status to this OBC commission," he said, adding, "Whenever the issue of reservation came up, it was done to create a rift in the country..."

"For the first time, we gave a model, we gave 10 per cent reservation to economically backward groups without snatching from anyone. SC, ST and OBC communities welcomed it. No one had a problem," Mr Modi said.

Mr Modi accused the Congress of not respecting B.R. Ambedkar. He said: "The Congress government did not give Bharat Ratna to B.R. Ambedkar, but today they are forced to say 'Jai Bhim'".

“It doesn’t suit the Congress to use the word Constitution,” said the PM.

Slamming the Congress for trying to “shorten the lines” of others and disturbing other parties’ governments during its regime at the Centre, Mr Modi said, “This is the oldest party, a party associated with the freedom movement…it is in a miserable state. They are wasting their energy in trying to shorten others lines. If they had focused on making their own line longer, they wouldn’t be in this situation. And let me give some unsolicited advice — work hard to make your own line longer, think positively and one day the country will also give you the opportunity to come here (the Treasury Benches).”

The Prime Minister said B.R. Ambedkar wanted to economically empower the Dalits and backward sections and said schemes like the Mudra Yojana and Stand Up India have helped the poor in getting loans to start their own businesses, fulfilling B.R. Ambedkar's wish.

"Our government focused on skill development, financial inclusion and industrialisation. We are realising the dreams of Babasaheb Ambedkar through these schemes," he said.

The Prime Minister also mentioned the PM-JANMAN scheme to improve the socio-economic conditions of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) and schemes for the development of border villages.

Attacking the Congress, Mr Modi said soon after Independence, the Congress went against the sentiments of the Samvidhan Sabha and brought in an amendment to the Constitution even before the government was elected.

In his speech, Mr Modi also mentioned poet and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri and actor Balraj Sahni being arrested under the Congress regimes for participating in protests and said veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar's brother was banned from All India Radio as he wanted to sing a song dedicated to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Mr Modi said that Doordarshan had banned movies of Dev Anand because he refused to speak in support of the Emergency and singer Kishore Kumar was banned because he refused to sing a song for the Congress.

As the Prime Minister accused the Congress of crushing freedom of speech, a huge uproar was heard from the Opposition Benches.

In his address, the PM stressed that 25-crore people have been brought out of poverty by his government. "My government is standing with this neo-middle class and middle class with a lot of commitment," he said.

The PM also slammed the previous Congress-led regimes for following the policy of “atkana, bhatkana, latkana” for the government projects and policies, as he named several Central projects that were kept pending for decades before the first Modi government in 2014 started working for their completion. He listed his government's works for empowering the youth, women, poor and athletes.