Modi dares Manmohan to debate on development, governance

August 15, 2013 11:23 am | Updated November 16, 2021 09:30 pm IST - Bhuj (Gujarat)

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, challenging him for a public debate on pressing issues while accusing him of taking a ‘weak’ stance on Pakistan. File photo

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, challenging him for a public debate on pressing issues while accusing him of taking a ‘weak’ stance on Pakistan. File photo

A day after Narendra Modi claimed that the country’s attention on Independence Day would be on his speech here, along with the Prime Minister’s address from Lal Qila, the Gujarat Chief Minister challenged Manmohan Singh to a debate on development and governance.

“Let there be a competition between the development works of Gujarat and the government in Delhi,” the Chief Minister said, speaking in Hindi, after unfurling the national flag on the Lalan College ground, which was filled to its capacity of 30,000 persons.

Mr. Modi exhorted countrymen to commit themselves “to getting freedom from rulers with the mentality of slavery, as the 1.25-billion population of India has lost faith in the leadership that has brought the nation to a standstill.”

Assailing Dr. Singh on the issue of national security, Mr. Modi said the Prime Minister, in his speech, failed to inspire security forces as he did not give any strong message to Pakistan.

The government had failed to curb Chinese intrusion and even Italian soldiers had killed Indian fishermen, he said.

On the contrary, Mr. Modi asserted, the President, in his address to the nation on Independence Day eve, had sent a strong message to Pakistan, asking it not to “test the limits of India’s patience.” But, “the PM did not utter a single word about this.”

Questioning the achievements of the Congress-led governments, Mr. Modi said, “The Prime Minister in his speech referred to the same issues and problems that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru admitted to as the first Prime Minister from the same venue. So, what have the Congress-led governments been doing for almost 60 years?” Dr. Singh, he said, “skipped leaders like Sardar Patel and Lal Bahadur Shastri as if he is loyal to a single family.”

Let’s uphold sanctity of August 15: Congress

Smita Gupta reports from New Delhi:

Incensed at Mr. Modi’s frontal attack on Dr. Singh in his Independence Day speech, Congress general secretary Ajay Maken has appealed to all political parties to “unitedly uphold the sanctity of the day” so that future generations continue to see August 15 as “the template of freedom and unity rather than an opportunity for self seeking.”

“It is a national festival that stands high in the collective conscience of the nation,” Mr. Maken said in a statement, stressing, “The Prime Minister’s speech is a non-partisan national statement of intent and purpose. It is not an occasion when partisan debates and power hungry squabbles should take place.”

Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, too, expressed his dismay at Mr. Modi’s no-holds-barred attack and said the Gujarat Chief Minister should have exercised some restraint. Mr. Modi, he said, had become “so restless to become something big in the country” that he forgot that this was a day when political differences were forgotten.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.