Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "matchless" and cannot be compared with Jawaharlal Nehru, as he was elected unanimously to lead his party, unlike the Congress leader who got zero votes despite Mahatma Gandhi's support, BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Mr. Trivedi sought to counter opposition assertions that Mr. Modi cannot equal the achievements of Nehru, saying Modi is "atulniya" (matchless) and there is a vast difference between his approach to dealing with issues facing the nation and the one adopted by the first prime minister.
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"The opposition keeps asserting that Nehru cannot be compared with Modi. I also believe that there can be no comparison," he said.
"Modi ji Nehru ji kay tulna me ek atulniya PM hain aur unhone yeah atulniya uplabdhi haasil ki hai (Modi is matchless and cannot be compared to Nehru. Modi has matchless achievements)," he said.
Humble origins
Nehru, he said, came from an affluent background, while Mr. Modi came from a very humble family.
"Woh jawaharat ke lal the, aur Modi ji gudri ke lal the," he said.
Mr. Trivedi said while Nehru jailed people for criticism, the Modi government has not taken any action against his critics.
He further said Nehru awarded the Bharat Ranta to himself, while Mr. Modi has conferred the highest civilian award to people across party lines, including three leaders associated with the Congress party.
On the Congress' claim of working to save the Constitution of India, Trivedi said the Constitution was always under threat when the grand old party was in power.
He said the Congress government changed the Preamble of the Constitution and misused provisions of the Constitution to dismiss elected state governments.
Congress abused charter
Referring to the Shah Bano case, when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, Trivedi said the Congress party placed 'Sharia' above the Constitution.
“Two of their [opposition] leaders were arrested, and they think democracy is in danger,” Trivedi said, and listed out the names of several leaders who were arrested by Congress governments.
Regarding opposition parties’ euphoria over the BJP’s loss in Faizabad (Ayodhya) and other Lok Sabha constituencies associated with Lord Ram, Trivedi said the opposition has at least started recognising the existence of Lord Rama.
During his speech, he highlighted various achievements of the Modi government over the last 10 years. These include making India the fifth largest economy in the world and PSUs like SBI, LIC, and HAL recording profits.
His speech was repeatedly interrupted by opposition sloganeering and multiple adjournments of the proceedings.
