Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that democracy is not a gift from the
Congress and ripped into the Grand Old Party during his address to the Rajya
Sabha. In an impassioned attack, the prime minister said: “What if there was no
Congress, as Mahatma Gandhi had suggested,” and then went on to say that if there
would have been no Congress, there would be no dynastic politics in India.  “If there was no Congress, there would be no
Emergency, no genocide of Sikhs,” Modi said.

Talking about Goa,
a state set for polls later this month, the PM said that Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru, the first prime minister of India, did not want to send in the military
to Goa in order to protect his global image. The Indian prime minister spoke at length
about the “liberation” of Goa in 1961.

PM Narendra Modi
further said that Lata Mangeshkar’s brother, Hridayanath Mangeshkar, who was
based out of Goa, was fired from All India Radio for putting to music a poem by
the Hindutva icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Criticising the
Congress for lecturing the BJP-led government on freedom of expression, the PM
cited examples of when the Congress, when in power, persecuted people for speaking
out against Congress leaders.

“This is a golden
age,” Modi said saying Indians must cease this opportunity and be proud of
Indian traditions.

Narendra Modi’s
speech in Rajya Sabha was in reference to President Ram Nath Kovind’s speech in
Parliament at the beginning of the Budget session.

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Continuing his
attack on the Opposition from Monday over their response in course of the
COVID-19 pandemic. “Some parties should introspect. During the COVID-19 crisis,
an all-party meeting was called. Presentation was to be given on behalf of the
government. But, efforts were made to stop some parties from joining the
meeting,” the PM said.

The prime minister’s
comments followed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha in
which he attacked the government over the state of the economy and employment
in the country.