Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having an ‘unhealthy mindset’ and ‘misleading the people’, the Congress on Monday said this is why he has forgotten what the first PM Jawaharlal Nehru has done for the development of Gujarat.
Hitting back at Modi over his charge that the Congress propagated dynastic politics, party’s senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said the Prime Minister ‘has forgotten’ that the Congress gave prime ministers like lal Bahadur Shastri and Manmohan Singh, who came from a humble background.
Defending the Nehru-Gandhi family, the former Union Minister said none of the Gandhis was part of the Government since the last almost three decades. “The Prime Minister has said that the country’s first Prime Minister has not done anything for Gujarat. It is wrong and far from truth. We condemn it. The prime minister is having an ‘aswasth mansikta’ (unhealthy mindset) which is an issue of grave concern for the country,” Sharma said at AICC briefing.
Sharma cited several projects initiated by Nehru in Gujarat like Amul cooperative movement, IIM Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design, formation of Gandhinagar, the state’s capital, ONGC’s complex at Ankleswar and development of ports like Kandla and Dahej, besides setting up of airports.
“It is not right on the part of the prime minister to speak like this. He should abstain from giving such statements as the Congress is capable of denying them with facts. The Prime Minister is trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by giving wrong statements and is trying to lure the people of the state ahead of Assembly elections,” he alleged.
Sharma asked what the Modi government had done for Gujarat and said it should be left to the people of the state and the country to judge its performance. “He (Modi) should not give certificates of honesty to his Government,” he said.
“The Modi Government is running away from accountability and that is why the Prime Minister never convened Parliament session ahead of Gujarat assembly polls and neither did he answer any of our questions,” the Congress leader said.
On Modi’s charge of dynastic politics, Sharma said the Congress was led by stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Gopal Kishna Gokhala and Madan Mohan Malviya.
Countering the Prime Minister’s attack on Nehru-Gandhi family, he said Rahul Gandhi, being an elected representative, was asked by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to join him, but he did not do so during the 10 years of UPA Government.