NEW DELHI: Rebutting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of former PM Indira Gandhi for her action to quell disturbance in Mizoram in 1966, the Congress on Friday alleged that his speech in Parliament on the no-confidence motion revealed the influence of “mischievous distorians” on his thinking.
On Modi criticising Indira’s decision to use the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Mizoram in 1966, the Congress said he "twisted decisions" taken by his predecessors out of their political and historical context to score "petty debating points".
Responding to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, Modi referred to incidents such as the use of IAF to "attack the people in Mizoram", a radio transmission of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 leaving the people of the Northeast to fend for themselves during the Chinese invasion as cases in point of Congress's "neglect" of the region. “Pt Nehru said ‘bye-bye Assam’,” Modi said in the Lok Sabha.
Congress MP and general secretary Jairam Ramesh said PM Modi’s speech revealed the influence of "mischievous distorians on his thinking".
"Yesterday, the Prime Minister’s speech revealed the influence of mischievous distorians on his thinking. He twisted decisions taken by his predecessors out of their political and historical context. He did it only to score petty debating points. This is perhaps only to be expected from someone who claims to be a MA in Entire Political Science," Ramesh said.
Modi's criticism of Indira Gandhi's extraordinarily tough decision of March 1966 in Mizoram to deal with secessionist forces that drew support from Pakistan and China was "particularly pathetic", the Congress leader said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"She saved Mizoram, started negotiations with those fighting the Indian state and finally a Peace Accord was signed on June 30, 1986. The manner in which the Accord came about is a remarkable story that reinforces the idea of India in Mizoram today," Ramesh said.
Anyone who takes their role as prime minister with full responsibility for the "incredibly tough decisions" one needs to make in that chair would never have said this, he added.
In his remarks, Modi attacked the Congress, saying its politics is the root cause of all the problems of the northeast.
He recalled the time of the Congress government in the state when every institution operated at the beck and call of extremist organisations and putting up a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi in government offices was forbidden.
