Congress practises politics of appeasement: PM Modi

Comparing the Congress rule with his government’s record, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (February 6, 2025) that the Congress practised the politics of tushtikaran (appeasement) while his government implemented the policy of “santushtikaran” (satisfaction of all).  

He was replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address. In his 90-minute long speech, he said the Congress had only “hatred and anger” towards B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution. This was reflected in its failure to give due recognition like the Bharat Ratna to him.

Accusing the grand old party of not respecting Ambedkar, he said the Congress was now forced to chant ‘Jai Bhim’.

Without naming the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, he said those carrying copies of the Constitution had scant respect for it. The first amendment to the Constitution, Mr. Modi said, was brought out soon after the document was adopted. “It was brought about by a gentleman [Jawaharlal Nehru] who was not the elected Prime Minister of the country. And the amendment was to crush the freedom of speech,” Mr. Modi said.

Mr. Modi also recalled the censorship under the Congress, citing the arrest of poet-lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri and actor Balraj Sahni under Congress regimes for participating in protests. He said veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar’s brother was banned from the All India Radio as he wanted to sing a song dedicated to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Mr. Modi also said Doordarshan had banned movies of Dev Anand because he refused to speak in support of the Emergency, and singer Kishore Kumar was banned because he refused to sing a song for the Congress. 

Huge uproar was heard from the Opposition benches as the Prime Minister accused the Congress of crushing freedom of speech. “I can never forget the Emergency... The word Constitution does not suit them...” he said. 

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‘Policies led to corruption’

Mr. Modi also hit out at the economic policies of the Congress government and said the ‘licence quota raj’ gave rise to corruption and affected the country’s economic progress and growth. 

He also said the entire Hindu community was blamed and its image tarnished across the world for the economic mismanagement and wrong policies of the Congress’ ‘royal family’ that led to slow growth, which was coined the ‘Hindu rate of growth’. At the same time, he gave a lengthy appraisal of his government’s achievements in the last 10 years.

The Prime Minister said the Congress’ priority was “family first” and its policies had been focused around it. He said his government worked for the upliftment of the poor, and it stood with the middle class and the “neo-middle class” in the country. “Nation first is the BJP’s priority,” Mr. Modi said.

“I say it with a lot of pride... For five to six decades, there was no alternative model for the people. After a long time, after 2014, the country got to witness a new model, which is not based on tushtikaran (appeasement) but ‘antushtikaran’(satisfaction of all),” he said. The Congress brand of politics, he said, was based on depriving people and giving them false hopes. 

Mr. Modi said the BJP-led government focused on optimum utilisation of resources. “We adopted the approach of saturation. The schemes should be delivered 100 per cent, no one should be deprived and pushed towards hopelessness. In the past decade, at every level, we have tried to implement ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. We can now see the impact,” he said.

Kept 'river of lies' flowing, 'twisted history': Congress slams PM Modi's speech in Rajya Sabha

Mr. Modi also claimed that attempts were being made to spread “the poison of casteism”. “For three decades, OBC MPs of both Houses from all parties kept demanding a commission for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) but it was rejected because, perhaps, it did not suit its politics at that time. We gave constitutional status to this OBC commission,” Mr. Modi said.

Mr. Modi stressed that 25 crore people had been brought out of poverty by his government. “My government is standing with this neo-middle class and middle class with a lot of commitment,” he said.