Continuing his tirade against the Congress and Nehru-Gandhi family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that during the 48 years of rule by the family, the country had failed to catch up with nations that were born after India got Independence.
“India’s first Prime Minister ruled the country for 17 years, after that his daughter was Prime Minister for 14 years, her son for five years and the family remote-controlled governance for 10 years.
“A single family has directly or indirectly governed the country for 48 years. My government will complete 48 months in May. The intellectuals should ponder the contribution of the family for 48 years and 48 months of our government,” Mr Modi said at a public meeting organised by the BJP.
Predicting the electoral reverses for the Congress in elections to north-eastern States and Karnataka, he said the Congress rule would be limited to a few States, including the Union Territory of Puducherry. In a sarcastic remark, he said, “I want to congratulate (Puducherry) Chief Minister Narayanasamy in advance. He will be projected by the Congress as a specimen after June,” Mr. Modi said.
Slamming the Narayanasamy-led Congress government for not holding local body elections for years, he said the party had snatched away the democratic rights of people living in rural areas.
“The Congress leadership in Delhi, which champions the democratic rights and talks about governance, owes an explanation to the people of Puducherry,” he said.
Nominated MLAs
The Prime Minister criticised the Congress for not allowing the three BJP leaders appointed by the Centre to function as nominated MLAs.
“The legislators appointed as per rules were not allowed to function in the Assembly,” he added.
The Union Territory had tremendous potential to move forward on the path of development, particularly in the tourism sector, he said. However, successive governments had failed to provide good governance.
Mr. Modi said his government had sanctioned ₹450 crore for the expansion of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, started flight service from Puducherry to Hyderabad and Bengaluru under the regional connectivity scheme and revived the port project.
The inclusion of Puducherry under the Smart City project, the Prime MInister said, would pave the way for improvement of urban infrastructure, transport and tourism sectors.
