'Not the party with which Mahatma Gandhi was associated': PM Modi slams Congress, says it is being run by...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lashed out at the Congress, saying the tukde tukde gang and urban Naxals were running the “most corrupt” party.

“The Congress which you see today is not the party with which a great man like Mahatma Gandhi was associated,” Modi said, addressing a public meeting at Wardha in Maharashtra on the completion of one year of the PM Vishwakarma scheme.

“The ghost of hatred has entered the Congress,” Modi said. “In today’s Congress the soul of patriotism has breathed its last,” he added.

Modi also spoke of the “anti-India agendas” of the Congress leaders in their speeches abroad, without naming that party’s leader Rahul Gandhi, who is facing flak from the ruling dispensation for his remark in the US on scrapping the reservation system. “If there is a corrupt party it is the Congress and the most corrupt family is its shahi parivar,” Modi said, without naming the Gandhi family.

“Congress hates Ganpati puja as well,” Modi said. “I went to a Ganesh puja programme and Congress criticised it for appeasement politics. Ganpati Bappa was put behind bars in Karnataka. Ganpati idol was put in a police van,” he said.

“Congress allies in Maharashtra kept mum and did not take a stand on Ganpati Bappa’s insult,” Modi said. In an apparent reference to the ensuing state assembly elections in Maharashtra later this year, Modi said, “In Maharashtra, we have to be aware of their duplicity.” 

“Falsehood and betrayal are the hallmark of the Congress and people of Maharashtra should beware of the party,” he said. The Congress used farmers only for politics and corruption, Modi said.

“We should not give another chance to Congress, which destroyed farmers. Falsehood and betrayal are the hallmarks of Congress,” Modi said. He added that Congress did not fulfill its election promises in Telangana. Modi said the SC, ST, and OBC categories are the biggest beneficiaries of the PM Vishwakarma scheme, and accused the previous Congress governments of neglecting the Vishwakarma community.

“Congress did not allow SCs, STs, and OBCs to prosper. We have put an end to the mindset of the Congress which didn’t allow these communities to prosper. Our vision is to ensure that the beneficiaries don’t remain just artisans but also become entrepreneurs,” he said.

He said his government wants to take the textile industry to the global market and restore the glory of the textile sector. Modi said the British rulers had conspired to finish off India’s traditional skills. Mahatma Gandhi gave a boost to rural traditional skills but governments after Independence did not give justice to the Vishwakarma community, leading to deterioration in the sector, Modi said.

“Through the Vishwakarma scheme, we have pledged prosperity through labour and a better tomorrow through skill,” Modi said. In the last year, more than 20 lakh people from 18 professions were linked to the Vishwakarma scheme, and more than 8 lakh craftsmen and artisans got skill training, he said.

Vishwakarma Yojana is not just a government programme but a roadmap to utilize thousands of years old skills to develop India, he said.

Modi also visited the exhibition at the National PM Vishwakarma programme and met some of the scheme’s beneficiaries. He also launched the "Acharya Chanakya Skill Development Centre" scheme of Maharashtra Government and the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Women Startup Scheme of Maharashtra Govt for support to women-led startups.

He laid the foundation stone of a 1,000-acre PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) Park at Amravati in Maharashtra. He also released a commemorative postage stamp to mark one year of the Vishwakarma scheme.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)