‘Many have lost courage to fight elections’: PM Modi takes a jibe at opposition ahead of polls

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday (Feb 5) took a jibe at the opposition ahead of the upcoming general elections in the country saying that many in the opposition parties have “lost the courage” to contest polls.

‘Lost the courage’

“I see that many of you (opposition) have even lost the courage to contest elections. Some seats were changed last time too, I have heard that many people are looking to change their seats this time as well,” said the Indian PM during a speech in Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

He added, “I have also heard that many people now want to go to Rajya Sabha instead of Lok Sabha. They are looking for their paths by assessing the situation.”

WATCH |India PM Narendra Modi to address World Government Summit in UAE

PM Modi also spoke about how the opposition has “failed to fulfill their responsibility as opposition” and added that India needs a “good opposition”.

He went on to list some of the works that his government has done so far. “We built 4 crore (40 million) houses for the poor. For the urban poor, we built 80 lakh (eight million) pucca houses,” the Indian PM said, adding that it would have taken Congress 100 years to do this same work.

“Five generations would have passed by then,” said PM Modi.

‘Family politics’ and cancel culture

The Indian PM said that the country needs a “strong and healthy” opposition but called out Congress for being stuck in ‘parivaarvad’ (family politics) which has tried to repeatedly launch a “failed product,” in an obliquereferenceto Rahul Gandhi.

ALSO READ |'Cancel culture to 370+ seats': Key takeaways from PM Modi's Parliament speech

During his address, PM Modi spoke about how Congress is promoting ‘cancel culture’ in the Parliament and listed government schemes and projects that the opposition had tried to “cancel”.

‘Modi’s guarantee’

“On the basis of the experience of 10 years of governance, looking at today’s strong economy and the rapid speed with which India is progressing today, I can confidently say that in our third term, India will be the third largest economic power,” said the Indian PM, while adding that this is “Modi’s guarantee”.

He also confidently said that his government will secure by winning the upcoming elections and said his government will make “very big decisions”.

“The third term of our government is not very far now. Only 100-125 days remain to go...I don’t go into numbers but I can see the mood of the country,” said the Indian PM.

“It will make the NDA cross 400 and BJP will definitely get 370 seats...The third term will be about taking very big decisions,” PM Modi side while alluding to the Article 370 that was scrapped by his government in a major decision.

ALSO READ |India’s election commission issues strict advisory against use of children in any election-related activities

The world’s largest democracy, may hold its general elections between April and May 2024 to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha, where PM Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will aim for a third consecutive victory.

In the upcoming elections, the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) will be pitted against the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), a group of 28 opposition parties including the Congress.

(With inputs from agencies)