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Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress, whose Karnataka Chief Minister (CM) Siddaramaiah and ministers protested the Centre’s “injustice” in the devolution of funds to the state, of shaping narratives that could threaten the unity of the country, such as the North versus South debate that the party had triggered.
In his 90-minute speech in the Rajya Sabha, his reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, the PM detailed his government’s vision for the next five years since a “Modi 3.0” was now “imminent”. He said it was “Modi’s guarantees” that all the welfare schemes, such as Ujjwala, health insurance, free food to 800 million people, and those for farmers, will continue.
In his third term, Modi said his government will strive to provide a “Modi kavach”, or shield, to empower the people of India, especially the neo-middle class, the 250 million people lifted out of poverty in the past decade.
Of late, the PM had spoken of his government working for “four castes” or “four pillars”, namely the poor, the youth, women, and farmers. But in Wednesday’s speech, Modi specified that the “labharthi”, or beneficiaries, of these schemes, were primarily the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The PM accused the Congress of having worked against the interests of SCs, STs, and OBCs, alluding to Jawaharlal Nehru opposing caste-based reservations, the Congress not conferring the Bharat Ratna on B R Ambedkar, and the Congress opting to support the candidature of Yashwant Sinha, a former Bharatiya Janata Party worker, over Droupadi Murmu, a tribal woman, for the 2022 presidential elections.
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The PM singled out the Congress, terming it as an “outdated” and “out of warranty” party that had now “outsourced” its work. He said the Congress, once a strong party, had plummeted to embarrassing depths, with its allies predicting it would struggle to win 40 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. He said the Congress could no longer “guarantee” leadership nor continuity of “policy” but dared to question “Modi’s guarantees”.
To those questioning the need to continue providing free foodgrain to 800 million people when 250 million have been lifted out of poverty, the PM said this “neo-middle class” needed hand-holding.
“Just as a physician would advise a convalescent patient to guard against a relapse of their condition, we know the neo-middle class needs our support lest it lapse into poverty. We have and will continue to provide free foodgrain to them," he said.
On the protest by the Karnataka CM, Modi said he has been a CM and understands regional aspirations. He said his government believes in competitive cooperative federalism. He highlighted the Centre-state’s cooperation during the pandemic, hosting of the Group of Twenty meetings across the country and foreign heads of state visiting cities other than New Delhi.
The PM said it had pained him that a state government’s leadership is on the roads and that too of a national party, with a dangerous slogan of “hamara tax, hamara money” (our tax, our money).
The PM said the third term of his government, which some have termed “Modi 3.0”, will be devoted to strengthening the foundation of building a Viksit Bharat. The PM said the third term will witness an increase in the number of doctors and medical colleges, providing affordable health, homes for the poor, a “zero” electricity bill by using solar power, a countrywide piped gas network, and setting up of hundreds of thousands of startups in Tier-II and Tier-III towns and cities.
He said the third term would see the setting up of the best universities so that students from the middle-class study in India instead of going abroad, a complete transformation of public transport, bullet trains, Make in India achieving new heights, self-sufficiency in energy, reducing oil imports with focus on ethanol production, self-reliance in edible oil, among others.
“History will remember this as India’s golden age,” he said.
On the Congress, the PM said it suffered from ideological “confusion” about whether to nationalise or privatise. He quoted from the speeches of Manmohan Singh, when his predecessor was the prime minister, on how increasing inflation, fiscal deficit, and current account deficit were of concern and the country’s anger over the misuse of public offices.
Modi said the Congress knew the solution to end corruption, such as the goods and services tax, but lacked the will to solve it.
He accused the Congress of suffering from a colonial hangover, which is why it continued with the “lal batti” (red beacon) culture, didn’t amend colonial laws, spread narratives of Indian tradition and culture being inferior and “imported” became a “status symbol”.
Alluding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as “yuvraj”, he described him as a “startup”, a “non-starter” who “failed to launch”.
To Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s protests, the PM thanked him for “blessing” the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with his prediction that it would cross 400 seats. With the government set to bring a white paper on the respective economic performances of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and NDA governments, the PM said his government improved the economy from the shambles of “policy paralysis” and “fragile five” that it was in at the end of 10 years of UPA rule.
