"Bhanumati Ka Kunba, Alliance's Alignment Is Off": PM Modi Shades INDIA Bloc

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's last speech in parliament before the national election this year, turned out to be another occasion for massive Congress bashing. The party, he alleged, was responsible for not fulfilling the role of a strong opposition which vital for a democracy. The current disarray in the Opposition bloc and "launching the same product (Rahul Gandhi) over and over" were counted among the other shortcomings of the party.

"The Congress cannot think beyond a single family. A few days ago, they put together a 'Bhanumati ka Kunba (Bhanumati's clan, meaning a group of disparate people)' but then they started 'Ekla chalo re (Walk alone)'," he said, quoting a famous poem by Rabindranath Tagore, in a jab at the INDIA Bloc and the current rift within it over seat sharing.

"The Congress has recently learnt the work of an auto mechanic, so they should by now know what alignment is. But they have managed to throw the Opposition alliance out of alignment… They do not trust each other. How can they have faith in the country," he added, responding to the Motion of Thanks on President Droupadi Murmu's speech last week.

The Congress, he added, never credited India with any potential. This, he said, was true even in the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first Prime Minister.

Nehru in his Red Fort speech, had said, "In India, there's no habit of working hard compared to Europeans, Americans," PM Modi said, insisting that it proves he considered Indians were 'lazy and lacked intelligence".

His daughter, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, had a similar opinion, he said. Again from the Red Fort, she said, "it is our habit that when a good work is approaching completion, we become complacent. And when an obstacle comes, we lose hope. Sometimes it seems the whole nation has accepted defeat',' PM Modi said.

Then came the next barb at the Opposition. "Looking at Congress today, it appears that Indira ji may have underestimated the countrymen, but she evaluated the Congress well," he said.

Taunting the Opposition that they have "lost the will to fight," PM Modi said they will "sit there (in the opposition benches) for more time to come".