*Our Govt completed railway line to Kashmir pending for 3 decades: PM*

JAMMU, Feb 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the Government has completed Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line three decades after the work on it was started.

“Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line was approved in 1994. The work was pending for years. We completed the work on railway line after three decades in 2025,” Modi said replying to debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address.

Meanwhile, Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress in the Rajya Sabha accusing it of adopting a policy of ‘family first’ and appeasement, and said the BJP Government only believed in the policy of ‘nation first’ and ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’.

He criticised the Congress for having “hatred and anger” towards B R Ambedkar and said this was reflected in not giving due recognition like the ‘Bharat Ratna’ to the architect of India’s Constitution.

Accusing the grand old party of not respecting Ambedkar, he said the Congress is now forced to speak out ‘Jai Bhim’ and also they get choked while speaking so.

Modi also hit out at the economic policies of the Congress Government and the ‘Licence quota raj’ that gave rise to corruption and affected the country’s economic progress and growth.

He also said the entire Hindu community was blamed and its image tarnished across the world for the economic mismanagement and wrong policies of the Congress ‘royal family’ that led to slow growth, which was coined as the ‘Hindu rate of growth’.

Modi also targeted the Congress Government for imposing Emergency in the country during which the entire opposition was put behind bars and hand-cuffed. He also cited several examples of film stars, singers and writers against whom action was taken for not lauding the Congress during that time.

Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders, he said those carrying copies of the Constitution have scant respect for it as he recalled how Nehru amended the Constitution during his first stop-gap Government curtailing the freedom of speech and expression of common people and did not even wait for elections in doing so.

Asserting that his Government’s policies are aimed at ‘Santushtikaran’ (satisfaction) and not ‘Tushtikaran’ (appeasement), he said the people of the country have understood, tested and supported BJP’s model of development.

“Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ (development of all while taking everyone along) is our collective responsibility. It would be a big mistake to expect ‘Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas’ from the Congress. This is beyond their thinking and does not fit in their roadmap. In the Congress model, ‘Family First’ is supreme. That’s why its policies, its speech, its behaviour are centred around that family only,” he said in his 90-minute long speech in the Rajya Sabha.

Targeting the Congress Governments of the past for the slow rate of growth, he said the restrictions and Licence Raj policies were responsible for it.

“The world gave the name of ‘Hindu rate of growth’ to this slow growth and failure. An insult to an entire community. It was on account of the failure and corrupt practices of those sitting in the Government, but the entire community was blamed and abused.

“… its image got tarnished across the world due to the economic mismanagement and wrong policies of the ‘shahi parivaar’,” Modi said.

Asserting that when the country has embarked on the path of progress and India is achieving new heights of development, then the role of everyone becomes very significant.

“It is natural in a democracy to oppose the Government and its policies. But extreme opposition, extreme pessimism and efforts to undermine others without focusing on one’s own policies can become obstacles in moving towards the path of becoming a developed nation. We have to break free from it, we have to introspect and think continuously,” he said.

The Prime Minister said it is everyone’s pledge to make the country ‘Viksit Bharat’ and not just of the Government, adding the country will shun anyone not associating with the dream.

Referring to the ‘excesses’ and human rights violations during Emergency, he said recital of the word Constitution does not suit Congress.

For the sake of power and for the ego of the royal family, lakhs of families were destroyed and the country was turned into a prison, he asserted.

The Prime Minister said the country is heaving a sigh of relief after getting rid of the clutches of the Congress and is now flying high. “We are promoting Make In India by coming out of the license Raj and evil policies of the Congress,” he claimed.

Hitting out at those opposing the idea of Uniform Civil Code, he said, “We are moving forward by taking inspiration from the framers of our Constitution. Some may think what this UCC is all about. But, after reading the debates of the Constituent Assembly, one would realise that it is in that same spirit.”