Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a blistering attack on the Congress over a range of issues, while emphasising that his government had made sincere efforts to bring the poor out of poverty.
Hitting back at the opposition party which has been making frequent ‘jumla’ jibes at the BJP, the prime minister said ‘Garibi Hatao’ was the biggest jumla in the history of India. The Garibi Hatao Desh Bachao (remove poverty, save the country) slogan was first used by former prime minister Indiara Gandhi in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections.
“Congress is very fond of one word. I want to use that word today. Their favourite word, without which they cannot live is ‘jumla’… The country knows that if there was any biggest jumla in India and it was used by four generations, that jumla was – ‘Garibi Hatao’. This was such a Jumla which helped them in their politics but did not improve the condition of the poor,” Modi said.
The prime minister was speaking in Lok Sabha in reply to a two-day debate on the 75 years of the adoption of the Constitution. Countering Rahul Gandhi’s accusations Prime Minister Modi launched a blistering attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family.Modi highlighted what he termed the family’s “sins”, framing them as impediments to India’s progress.
Modi showcased his government’s work over the past decade as being guided by the spirit of the Constitution. He cited achievements such as the abrogation of Article 370, providing rations to over 80 crore people, building toilets, improving livelihoods, and pushing for a Uniform Civil Code.
The prime minister also responded to Congress’s frequent use of the term jumla (a phrase used to dismiss BJP’s promises). He said, “The biggest jumla in India, used across four generations, was Indira Gandhi’s garibi hatao slogan. They did nothing for the poor.”
In a no-holds-barred attack on the past Congress prime ministers—Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi—Modi accused them of altering the Constitution for political gain. He claimed Nehru first amended the Constitution, even before being an elected prime minister, to curtail the right to freedom of speech. “Nehru wrote to chief ministers saying that if the Constitution comes in our way, it should be amended. The Congress developed a taste for tinkering with the Constitution and kept hunting for it,” Modi said.
He targeted Indira Gandhi for amending the Constitution to clip the powers of the Supreme Court and imposing the Emergency. “That sin will never be wiped off Congress’s face,” Modi declared. Referring to Rajiv Gandhi, Modi criticised his government for amending the Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Shah Bano case. He also accused Rajiv’s successor generation of disrespecting the Constitution by tearing up an ordinance cleared by the government. “Unlike Congress, we have amended the Constitution to strengthen the country,” Modi asserted.
On Congress’s promise regarding reservations, Modi accused the party of pushing for religion-based quotas, which was also rejected by the Constituent Assembly. He termed Congress’s reservation plank as an appeasement strategy aimed at securing votes.
