New Delhi, Feb 7 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi Today  took swipes at the Congress party by quoting former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s speeches with regard to inflation and on the duties and responsibilities of citizens towards the country – the very issues that the opposition party has been criticizing him on. In an address in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s speech, the Prime Minister was unsparing in his attacks on the Congress party, and said the opposition party has always had a grouse that he does not refer to Nehru and today he was going to refer to the former PM in full measure. “You are unhappy when I do not mention Pandit Nehru… today I will keep mentioning his name, and make you happy,” the PM said in a jibe, to protests from the Congress benches, notably by Adhir Ranjan Chowdury. He said that Pandit Nehru had chosen the ramparts of the Lal Quila to defend the rising prices. “Pandit Nehru said from the ramparts of the Lal Quila, when globalization was not there…that the war in Korea was affecting India, and that is the reason for the high prices, and that it is beyond our control. Pandit Nehru threw up his hands (in surrender) before the rising prices,” PM Modi said. “Pandit Nehru said if in America something happens this too affects our prices. Just think how difficult was the problem of inflation then that he put up his hands (in surrender),” the PM said in a counter to the Congress’ attack over high prices. He said the country has been “saved” because if the Congress had been in power today then it would have blamed the coronavirus for the high prices and shaken off all blame. “But we are fighting it (price rise),” he added. He said the Congress had coined the slogan of Garibi Hatao for many years, “but they failed to remove poverty and instead the people removed them from power”, he added. He also cited another speech of Nehru when he had referred to the need to preserve the national heritage of the country and the different languages in his Bharat ki Khoj. He hit out at the Congress for “insulting the nation” with its “divisive tactics”. “The Nation is not power or the government. For us the Nation is a living soul. And for thousands of years our citizens have been part of it,” he said. “A time comes sometimes in history when we emerge from the old time and step into the new…When the suppressed soul of a country emerges to freedom,” he added, in another jibe to the country ‘freeing’ itself from Congress rule after more than 50 years. Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his Lok Sabha speech last week, the PM said that there was an attempt in parliament to foment separate Tamil sentiments. He accused the Congress of following the divisive policy of “Todo aur raj karo, baaton aru raj karo (divide and rule, break and rule)” and called the party “the leader of the tukde-tukde gang.” “This country is one and is supreme and will remain united and we are moving forward with this faith,” he added. Again attacking those who targeted him for referring to the duties of citizens towards the country, he cited Nehru’s speech when he had talked about the responsibilities and duties of the citizen. “Now they are upset with the talk of responsibility…You keep complaining that Modiji does not take Nehru-ji’s name, and today I will fulfil that wish,” he said again. He cited another speech of Nehru where he had spoken of a free India but one where citizens have their own share of duties and responsibilities towards the country. “With freedom comes duty and responsibility of each and every person…And if you don’t understand it, then you cannot save it, but you have forgotten that too,” he said, targeting the Congress. The PM in a speech last month had referred to the evil of ignoring duties and not keeping them paramount which he said “has entered our society, our nation and each one of us’. “Friends …. We (also) have to admit that in the 75 years after Independence, a malaise has afflicted our society, our nation and all of us. It is that we turned away from our duties and did not give them primacy. In the last 75 years, we only kept talking about rights, fighting for rights and wasting our time. The issue of rights may be right to some extent in certain circumstances, but neglecting one’s duties completely has played a huge role in keeping India vulnerable,” the PM had said, which has been criticized in certain quarters. Earlier too, the PM has said that the Constitution highlights both rights and duties of citizens and it is time to focus on responsibilities as well. (UNI)