New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, hit out at previous Congress governments’ misplaced priorities, saying “Nehru ji and Indira ji considered our people as problems” and rigid policies made the Planning Commission citizen-unfriendly.
During his address, PM Modi cited an old statement of former Prime Minister and Congress leader Indira Gandhi that exposed the irresponsible governance and policy stagnation that fettered the Nehru-era Planning Commission.
The PM read excerpts from Indira Gandhi’s speech, which pointed to a visible mismatch between the planning body’s policies and the needs of people in hill states.
The excerpts were from a collection of Indira Gandhi’s speeches titled “Selected Speeches and Writings of Indira Gandhi”.
In one of these speeches, Indira Gandhi said, “For a long time, I had to struggle with the Planning Commission, because they were not willing to have separate plans for the hill areas.”
“I went to Himachal Pradesh, and I had to do most of the touring on foot, 20 to 22 kms a day for ten days. And when I came back, I said, what our workers need is not a Jeep but a mule so that at least their luggage, etc., can go on the mule. I was told, ‘No, we will give so much money for the Jeep but will not give one hundredth part of it, which is the mule’s cost, because the policy is to give a Jeep’,” the book quoted Indira Gandhi as saying.
Further, she said, “Now, there were no roads. So what were you to do with the Jeep? But the Planning Commission at that time insisted: ‘Jeep or nothing!’ And this is the attitude which has persisted in many of our ministries, in many of our public sector units.”
On Thursday, PM Modi used these remarks of former PM Indira Gandhi to point out that public welfare was not a priority for the previous Congress governments, and the Nehru-era Planning Commission suffered from policy rigidity, paralysis and red tape – the reasons why the NDA government disbanded the panel.
Prime Minister Modi also quoted former PM Indira Gandhi’s remarks on her visit to Iran, which said that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru viewed the country as having 35 crore problems, while she herself faced 71 crore problems during her tenure.
PM Modi questioned how any leader could refer to the people of India as problems, asserting that with 140 crore citizens today, the nation possesses 140 crore solutions.
This fundamental difference in perspective, he said, sets his administration apart from Congress, emphasising empowerment and opportunity over viewing the population as a burden.
(IANS)
