Reaching essential services to all parts of India is always "work in progress", P Chidambaram said.
Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks in Germany, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday said he should have acknowledged the tremendous achievements in India by 2014 and added that his government was only continuing the work of previous dispensations.
In a series of tweets, Mr Chidambaram said on the day the prime minister claimed that electricity has reached all villages, there was news of steps being taken on a "war footing basis" to take electricity to a hamlet in NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu's native village.
"This is not the only hamlet or village that does not have electricity. There is no shame in admitting that electricity has yet to reach several remote areas and villages of India. There is no shame in admitting that several thousand households in India do not have electricity," the former Union minister said.
What India has achieved in the last 75 years is indeed impressive, but reaching essential services to all parts of India is always "work in progress", he said.
"The PM should have acknowledged the tremendous achievements by 2014 and that his government is only continuing the work of previous governments," Mr Chidambaram said.
Prime Minister Modi, who is visiting Germany to attend the G7 Summit, addressed thousands of members of the Indian community at a grand event held at the Audi Dome stadium in Munich on Sunday.
Prime Minister Modi said India has shown how well democracy is delivering in such a vast and so diverse country.
"The way crores of Indians have achieved big goals together, it is unprecedented. Today, every village in India is open defecation free, has electricity and 99 percent of the villages also have clean cooking fuel. India has been providing free ration to 80 crore poor people since the last 2 years," he said.
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