Agar Congress Na Hoti… : Modi's fierce attack on Congress as dynastic party

New Delhi: Dynastic parties and family-ruled parties are the biggest threats to India's democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday as he launched an all-out attack on the Congress and held it responsible for a host of issues, including the Emergency, the anti-Sikh riots, caste politics, and the exodus of Pandits from Kashmir.

When one family becomes too prevalent in a political party, then talent is the first casualty. "I suggest all political parties should establish democracy in their own parties, and the Congress, being the oldest party in the country, has more responsibility to do so," he said in the House.

Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister, in a fierce attack against the main opposition, said the Congress is creating hurdles in the country's development as an opposition party too. Modi said urban Naxals are today controlling the Congress' thought process and ideology.

"The Congress, in a way, is in the grip of urban Naxals. That is why its thought has become negative," he said.

"Some members asked, 'Agar Congress Na Hoti tho Kya hota?' (if there was no Congress, what would happen?)... I would like to say, if there was no Congress, there would have been no Emergency, no caste politics, Sikhs would never have been massacred, the problems of Kashmiri Pandits would not have happened," Modi said.

Whenever someone within the Congress has spoken against a particular family, the results have been there for all to see, the Prime Minister said, naming the late leader Sitaram Kesri. He said he was removed as party president for speaking against the Gandhi family. He also took on the Congress for preaching about freedom of expression and cited the example of Lata Mangeshkar's musician brother, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, was sacked from All India Radio for presenting a poem on Veer Savarkar. Lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri was jailed for criticising Jawaharlal Nehru.

He alleged that the Congress thinks the country was born only in 1947. This mindset is harmful for the country as its policies have affected the country's progress in the last 75 years. "We will never learn lessons in democracy from those who trampled over democracy in 1975," Modi said.

He attacked the Congress for sacking over 50 state governments of several parties during its over 50-year rule at the Centre. The Congress, the Prime Minister said, has been suppressing state governments and the policy of the Congress high command has been "to first discredit, then destabilise, and then dismiss" governments. It was Congress which destabilised the governments of Farooq Abdullah, Devi Lal, Chowdary Devi Lal, Prakash Singh Badal, Ramakrishna Hegde, Karunanidhi, NT Rama Rao and Mulayam Singh. The Prime Minister urged the opposition to be constructive and take the country to greater heights when it completes 100 years of Independence.