New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a no-holds barred attack on the Congress Monday, accused it of adopting the “Divide and rule” policy of the British to rule a multicultural, diverse country. Hurling back the words of Jawaharlal Nehru in response to Rahul Gandhi’s accusations of the government hurting federalism, he said it was the Congress which had the “divisive mentality”.
“Angrez chale gaye (the Bristish have left) but divide and rule remained… That’s why the Congress has become the leader of ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang,” he said in reply to the debate on Motion of Thanks to President’s Address in the Lok Sabha, using the BJP’s pejorative for a section of activists, non-profits and student protesters.
Quoting from Jawaharlal Nehru’s book, the Discovery of India, he said, “Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Andhra, Oriya, Assamese, Kaannada, Malayali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Hindustani… for hundreds of years, have made their own identity.”
It was his answer to Rahul Gandhi, who said in parliament last week said the Constitution does not refer to India as a country but as a “Union of States” and that the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are “playing with the foundation of the country”.
“My great grandmother (former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi) was shot 32 times. My father (former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) was blown into pieces. I know what it is. You are fiddling with something dangerous. If you don’t stop you’ll create a problem,” Mr Gandhi had said.
“Rashtra is not an arrangement of rule or government — it is a live soul for us. For 1000 years, people have been connected to it,” PM Modi said today, quoting the ancient text of Vishnu Puran. Mr Gandhi’s Gandhi’s comments on exclusion of the idea of Tamil Nadu from India’s institutions he labelled as “attempts to instigate Tamil sentiments”.
“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,” he said, to a chorus of protest.
The Prime Minister also accused the opposition of being responsible for the countrywide spread of Covid and the migrant crisis in the initial days and alleging that this was “paap (sin)”. Pointing at the opposition-ruled governments in Maharashtra and Delhi, he alleged, “You people pushed the labourers into difficulties”.
