Puducherry: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hit out at the "one family" dynastic rule of Congress for 48 years and said it should be compared with the achievements of the "development-oriented" NDA in the last four years. "One family either directly or indirectly ruled the country for 48 years... for about 17 years our first Prime Minister ruled, and after that, his daughter held the reigns for 14 years and following that her son was at the helm for five years," he said.
PM Modi, who was addressing a BJP organised public meeting here, referred to the regimes of Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi without naming them. His comments come weeks after Congress President Rahul Gandhi had dared Modi to spell out achievements of the NDA government instead of criticising his party.
"You will have to tell the country during the elections what you did in the last five years. It is going to be five years and you have not even opened your account," Gandhi had said making Modi the focal point of his attack in a series of roadside and public meetings in poll-bound Karnataka.
In his address here, Modi also said "between 2004 and 2014, the same family ran the government with remote control," in an apparent reference to the Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime. "From Puducherry, I would like to give a message for the intellectuals of this country," he said.
Intellectuals can debate the difference between what was gained and lost during the Congress regimes and what the BJP-led NDA has achieved in 48 months, he said. "We are talking about people's development, ease of living for the common man," he said.
Though nations that got independence in 1947 like India have grown, the country still lagged behind and it warranted a serious thought on the lacunae vis-a-vis the functioning of the government and political culture that were holding back the nation, Modi said.
In an obvious reference to his oft-repeated slogan "Congress-mukt Bharat", Modi asserted the Congress would be left with only the V Narayanasamy government in Puducherry in the country, saying the BJP would win the coming assembly elections in Karnataka and northeast.
He did not refer to the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab. "I want to congratulate the Chief Minister of Puducherry in advance because the Congress is going to exhibit him as a specimen after June," he quipped predicting the defeat of the Congress in other states.
"Elections are going to be held in North East where the Congress has a government and it will go. After that, polls are to be held in Karnataka and there too the Congress will go, so the Narayanasamy government will be the only one to be left," the Prime Minister said.
The jibe drew laughter from the large crowd that had gathered to listen to Modi, who became the first Prime Minister to address a public meeting in this former French colony in 33 years. Rajiv Gandhi was the last Prime Minister to address a rally here in 1984.
Targeting the Congress government in Puducherry, Modi said the union territory had poor infrastructure and was a victim of "Congress culture". He claimed Puducherry had poor infrastructure and sectors such as transport and cooperation were in a shambles and charged the successive regimes with doing injustice for the people.
"The Congress has failed on all fronts in Puducherry," he said recalling the glorious history of the former French colony which was closely associated with the freedom movement sheltering the likes of Sri Aurobindo, and national poet Subramania Bharathi.
He also came down on the Puducherry government for not holding civic polls for years together while the "party had been making tall claims from Delhi that it is the champion of democracy and rights of the people." By delaying the civic polls the Congress government "is only gagging the voice of the people," he said.
Outlining the initiatives of his government like the 'Mudhra Yojana' and 'Jan Dhan Yojana', he said such schemes empowered the people across the country. PM Modi said the Prime Minister's Mudra Scheme had been implemented expeditiously with around 3.25 lakh youth having been benefitted during the last three years.
Mudra scheme is of help to the youth who could get loans without any collateral security, he said urging the youths to make use of it and launch projects in Puducherry. Udan Scheme providing regional air connectivity would be of help for Puducherry to promote tourism and generate employment, he said.
Citing the Ayushman Bharath Scheme, he said it will benefit the poor families to get free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh rupees per year. The government was strengthening the ports and ushering in an era of port-led development, through the Sagarmala project.
Financial assistance was being given for long-liner trawlers for fishermen under the Blue Revolution Scheme, he said. Modi also listed financial assistance given to various schemes such as smart city for the union territory.
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