Gehlot terms PM Modi’s remarks on Congress ‘politically desperate, morally bankrupt’

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday strongly criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks against the Congress during a public meeting in Ajmer, describing them as an expression of “political desperation and moral bankruptcy.”

In a detailed post on social media platform X, Gehlot said the Prime Minister’s comments targeting the Indian National Congress reflected frustration rather than substantive political debate.

Advertisement

“Comments made by the Prime Minister against the Congress are a symbol of political desperation. For those belonging to an ideology that did not contribute to the freedom struggle to accuse the Congress — a party that played a leading role in India’s independence movement — of dividing the country is both absurd and indicative of moral bankruptcy,” Gehlot said.

In a sharply worded response, the senior Congress leader added that opposing a political leader should not be equated with opposing the nation, urging the Prime Minister not to consider himself above the country.

Gehlot also alleged that an official government platform had been used for political criticism instead of addressing issues of public concern raised earlier by him.

Raising policy questions, he referred to welfare initiatives introduced during the previous Congress government in Rajasthan, including the Right to Health programme, the Gig Workers Welfare Act and the Urban Employment Guarantee scheme.

Referring to the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), he claimed that the present BJP government had merely renamed the project without making substantive progress.

Responding to the Prime Minister’s criticism regarding examination paper leaks during the previous Congress regime, Gehlot said Rajasthan had enacted one of the country’s strictest anti-paper leak laws, providing for life imprisonment, heavy financial penalties and confiscation of property of those found guilty.

He further alleged that the BJP government had failed to fulfil assurances made during the Assembly elections regarding the continuation of welfare schemes launched by the previous government, concluding that the much-publicised “double engine” governance model had failed to deliver results in Rajasthan.