Shiv Sena Praises Congress, Says Without Them PM Modi Would Have Been Left To Rule A Banana State Like Somalia

An editorial in the party’s mouthpiece Saamna goes against PM Modi’s staple accusation of Congress that its six-decade rule had ‘destroyed’ the nation.

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 11 February 2017 5:49 pm

Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna praised the Congress rule over the last six decades in India saying that without them Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have been left to rule a banana state such as Rwanda and Somalia.

In an editorial, Saamna slammed PM Modi for his ‘raincoat’ barb at his predecessor Manmohan Singh and even questioned BJP’s rule asking what changes has PM Modi brought about in the country with all the brute majority he enjoys in the Lok Sabha.

Both P V Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh strove hard to resuscitate India's economy during a critical phase, Saamna said, adding, "If all this wasn't done (by Modi's Congress predecessors) then the PM would have been left to rule a banana state such as Rwanda and Somalia," quoted The Times of India.

"Even if we accept that the Congress committed some petty theft, the fact remains that the party led the country on the path of economic and industrial progress ...At the time of Independence, India couldn't even manufacture a needle...What changes has Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought about in the country with all the brute majority he enjoys in the Lok Sabha is the key question," the editorial said.

The Shiv Sena mouthpiece also lauded Indira Gandhi for severing Pakistan into two in the 1971 war, and Rajiv Gandhi for ushering India into the telecommunication age in the 1990s.

Within 24 hours of the assassination of Ravindra Mhatre, India's diplomat in the UK, by a terrorist group, Indiraji ordered the execution of Kashmiri terrorist Maqbool Bhat. "By doing so, Indiraji told the world in no uncertain terms that she would not yield to terrorism. Indira Gandhi laid down her life for the country," said the editorial.

Shiv Sena’s praise to Congress goes againstPM Modi’s staple accusation of Congress that its six-decade rule had ‘destroyed’ the nation. Congress has often questioned the PM’s such accusations. In April 2015, according to a report in The Business Standard, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma had said that it was laughable of the Prime Minister to think that India had not achieved anything before he came into power in May 2014.