Congress toppled elected state governments 90 times by grossly misusing Article 356 - PM Modi

Launching a scathing attack on Congress and other opposition parties who have been targeting him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said "one person is proving too much for so many" and that more muck is raised by the parties opposed to the BJP, the more the party's symbol lotus will bloom. He was addressing Rajya Sabha during his reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's Address.

The Prime Minister accused the opposition parties of playing political games and looking for way to save themselves.

"The country is watching that one person (leader) is proving too much for so many (ek akela kitno ko bhari pad raha hai). Even to chant slogans, they have to switch (in turns). I have been responding to their voices for over an hour in one voice," PM Modi said.

"This is because of (my) conviction. I live for the country. I am out to do something for the country. Those who play political games do not have that courage. They are looking for a way to save themselves," he added.

The Prime Minister said his government believes in cooperative federalism.

PM Modi, who faced constant sloganeering from the opposition in Rajya Sabha during his motion of thanks to the President's Address, took potshots at the Nehru-Gandhi family, saying he had read that over 600 schemes were named after its members and asked why people from their generation don't keep Nehru as their surname and what was the "fear and shame".

"Some had problems with the names of schemes of govt and Sanskrit words in the names. I read in a report that 600 government schemes were in the Gandhi-Nehru family's name...I don't understand why people from their generation don't keep Nehru as their surname, what's the fear and shame?" he said.

With opposition parties accusing the Centre of politics against non-BJP state governments, PM Modi said that it was the Congress that had rampantly misused Article 356 and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had used it 50 times to oust non-Congress governments.

"We are accused of troubling the states. I have been the chief minister for a long time. I understand the meaning of federalism. We have stressed on cooperative, competitive federalism. We have kept in mind national progress in our policies and also regional aspirations. Those who are sitting in Opposition today, they had tampered with the rights of states," PM Modi said.

Opposition members kept raising slogans during PM Modi's speech over their demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the Hindenburg-Adani row.

PM Modi said Congress repeatedly misused Article 356.

"Look at the history, which party and people in power misused Article 356 the most? Elected governments were toppled 90 times, who were those who did that? A Prime minister used Article 356 fifty times, and scored a half-century and that name is Indira Gandhi. In Kerala Communist government was elected which wasn't liked by Pandit Nehru and was toppled," he said.

"In Tamil Nadu too, governments of veterans like MGR and Karunanidhi were dismissed by Congress people. Sharad Pawar's government was toppled too. We have seen what happened with NTR when he was in the US for treatment and attempts were made to topple his government. This was the level of Congress' politics. They troubled every regional leader," he added.

He said the government has set the target to achieve saturation levels in all schemes to benefit everyone during Amrit Kaal.

PM Modi said the government's aim is to provide permanent solutions for the problems faced by the citizens and empower them.

"We understand the importance of infrastructure, scale and speed for building a modern India," he said.