Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi addressed the Lok Sabha on the 75th anniversary of Quit India movement.
While PM Modi called for special initiatives to end malnutrition and illiteracy in the next five years with the pledge of 'Karenge Aur Kar Ke Rahenge' (We will do and surely do), Gandhi took a few jibes at the BJP and the RSS.
The Prime Minister said from 2017 to 2022, when India turns 75, there is a need to create the same spirit that existed between 1942 and 1947.
“In 1942, the clarion call was ‘Karenge Ya Marenge’ (Do or Die) – on Wednesday it is ‘Karenge Aur Kar Ke Rahenge.’ These five years are about ‘Sankalp Se Siddhi’ (commitment to fulfillment),” he said.
Sonia Takes Jibe at BJP
Modi said poverty, lack of education and malnutrition are the greatest challenges for the nation now. "We need to bring a positive change in this regard," he said.
He said the menace of corruption has adversely impacted the development journey of the country.
In an apparent attack on the BJP and the RSS, Sonia Gandhi said that a few groups had opposed the 1942 Quit India movement launched by the Indian National Congress against the British rule.
‘Dark Forces Are Rising in the Country,’ Says Sonia
“We must not forget that certain forces opposed the concept of Quit India movement. These facts should also be told,” the 70-year-old leader said in Lok Sabha.
“There is no contribution of those groups in the Indian freedom movement,” she added, without naming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which was formed in 1925.
“Dark forces are rising again in the country... There is threat to our secular, liberal and free thinking. Today, we still need to fight against these forces... The politics of hatred and revenge has taken over the country. There is hardly any space in public for open discussions and debates,” she added.
Smriti Irani Attacks Sonia Gandhi
Union minister Smriti Irani attacked Gandhi over her speech in the Lok Sabha, saying it was a “long, pitiable lament” over the loss of control Nehru dynasty wielded before her party’s defeat in 2014.
In a Facebook post, Irani said Gandhi was bent upon to prove that blood is thicker than water and was “bitter and illiberal”.
Irani alleged that Gandhi also used “expressions such as ‘nafrat aur badle ki raajneeti’ (politics of hate and revenge) totally out of context to vitiate the atmosphere in the House and made it seem like an election campaign speech.”
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forward- looking, positive, unifying and gracious in his address as he exhorted people to rise above all kinds of differences, including those created by politics, to forge ahead by fighting poverty, injustice and terrorism.
“In contrast, Sonia Gandhi’s speech lacked any passion or vision, bordering on the monotonous,” Irani said.
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