On February 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, took a dig at Congress and counted how many years the grand old party has been out of power in states across India. PM Modi, while counting the achievements the current govt has made, including a gas connection, electricity connection etc., said if the Congress party leaders were connected to the roots, they would have seen the problem when they were in power. He then counted the years Congress has failed to form government in many states.
At around 10 minutes into the speech, he said, “It is unfortunate a lot of leaders are still stuck in 2014, and they are not ready to move on. You have found yourself in such a mental state that you are suffering the consequences. The public has understood you. Some have understood long back, some have understood recently, and some will understand in future.”
“When you give a lecture to the ruling government, you forget that you were in power for 50 years. Now see, the people of Nagaland last chose Congress in 1998. It has been 24 years. Odisha last voted for Congress in 1995. It has been 27 years since you did not get entry into the state. In Goa, you last won in 1994 with full majority, and it has been 28 years since then. The last time Tripura people voted for you was in 1988,” PM Modi said while suppressing a laughter.
He further said that in UP, Bihar and Gujarat, Congress came to power in 1985. Similarly, in West Bengal, Congress was last elected in 1972 by the people.
PM Modi was interrupted by the opposition leaders. He said, “I would have agreed to what you are saying if you have stayed within your limit and did not use the podium for your own agenda. The Parliament should be used for the people and not for the benefit of the party. It is our compulsion to answer you.”
He continued, “In Tamil Nadu, you came to power in 1962. You take credit for creating Telangana. But the people of Telangana did not approve of you since its creation. It has been 20 years since Jharkhand was created. But you could not form a government on your own and keep trying to enter from the backdoor.”
He added it is not about the election results but about the intent and sincerity of these leaders. Why are the people of India rejecting them after being in power for decades? The people did not let you enter once they rejected you. Taking a dig at the well-oiled support system Congress has, he said, “If we lose one election, the ecosystem keeps talking about it for months. But in your case, even after getting defeated so many times, neither your ego leaves nor the ecosystem lets your ego leave.”
PM Modi further said that since Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary has been reciting quite a few couplets recently, even he would like to say one. He said, “woh jab din ko raat kahein turant maan jao, nahi maanoge to woh din mein nakab odh lenge, zaroorat hui to haqikat ko thoda bahut marod lenge, woh magroor hain khud ki samajh par beinteh, inhein aaina mat dikhao woh aaine ko bhi tod denge. (If they call day, night, agree with them… else they will cover their faces. They would twist the facts. They are egoist, do not show them mirror, they will break it).”
The House erupted in applause after the couplet recital by PM Modi even as the opposition tried to create a ruckus.
