Team News Riveting
New Delhi, February 8
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said trust of 140 crore Indians was his safety shield which lies and accusations could not destroy.
“Narendra Modi is a member of every Indian family and the trust of 140 crore Indians is his safety shield which your lies and accusations cannot destroy,” the Prime Minister said to the Congress in Lok Sabha a day after Rahul Gandhi accused the government of aiding industrialist Gautam Adani’s rise. The BJP had termed the allegations as baseless.
Amid chants of ‘Modi, Modi’ and a frequent cheering by the Treasury benches, the Prime Minister said crores of poor and deprived beneficiaries of government schemes would never trust allegations and lies of the Opposition. Attacking the Congress for “compulsive rather than constructive criticism”, he referred to UPA’s 2004 to 2014 as a “lost decade” and contrasted it with 2030 which, he said, will be India’s decade as the “world looks at India with hope and trust and sees its own prosperity in that of India’s.”
Describing the Congress and its leaders (without naming anyone directly) as “people steeped in negativity”, Modi said India was a happy society brimming with hope, a land that “tolerates but does not accept negativity.”
In a veiled jibe at Rahul Gandhi who yesterday said Harvard Business School should study the India model of government and business tango, the Prime Minister said, “Harvard has done one study which has been completed. It is titled – The rise and decline of India’s Congress Party. Harvard and many other universities are sure to study the continuing decline of Congress and those who caused it.”
Political pundits said Modi’s speech had been one of his most aggressive ever and it was possibly his longest ever lasting for around 90 minutes. Rahul however missed much of the attack. For, he appeared in Parliament 40 minutes into the prime minister’s speech. Modi took a swipe at Gandhi’s absence, saying, “some were so happy with the speech, they didn’t come today.”
