Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday stepped up his attack on the Congress, saying the opposition party was glossing over its own controversies. Speaking on the motion of thanks in Rajya Sabha, Modi said the lotus (BJP's election symbol) will bloom no matter how much mud the opposition is throwing at the ruling party.
"I want to tell the opposition MPs, the more keechad (sludge) you will throw at us, the lotus will bloom even more. So, you all have an equal role in making the lotus bloom, and I thank all of you for that," he said.
The prime minister highlighted the developmental measures undertaken by his government in the last nine years even as the opposition MPs chanted “Modi Adani bhai bhai” slogans in the house, demanding that a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe be ordered into the allegations against the Adani Group.
"In the last 3-4 years, around 11 crore houses have got tap water connections. For the empowerment of common people, we started the Jan Dhan account movement. In the last nine years, 48 crore Jan Dhan accounts were opened across the country," he said.
Lambasting the opposition MPs for raising slogans inside Rajya Sabha, Modi said: "The country carefully hears what is said in this house. Some MPs are bringing disrepute to this house.”
Similar to his speech in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the prime minister chose to single out the Congress party for his attack. "Despite being in power from the Panchayat level to the Parliament, they (Congress) never thought or tried to bring solutions to permanent problems India has been facing," he said.
Taking a jibe at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Modi said, "Kharge Ji complains that I visit Kalaburagi. He should see the work done there. More than 1.70 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts have opened in Karnataka including over 8 lakh accounts in Kalaburagi.”
“So many people are getting empowered, while some others' accounts are getting closed. I can understand the pain," he further said in a sarcastic jibe at the opposition party.
The prime minister also targeted the Gandhi family and asked why none of them used 'Nehru' as their surname.
"If we miss out on mentioning Nehru anywhere, they (Congress) get upset. Nehru was such a great person, then why does none of them use the Nehru surname. What is the shame in using the Nehru name," Modi said.
