New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday claimed there are cracks within the Congress and the wider Opposition ranks over the party's "repeated efforts to launch a failed product", in a not-so-veiled attack on Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, who has been on the streets against the BJP-led NDA government over alleged electoral fraud. Using the word "parjeeevi" or 'parasite' for the main Opposition party, and deploying the term "dimagi (mental) naxals", he said the voices of "honest critics" get lost in the "noise that the Congress creates".
"There are movements that naturally want to expose the government's shortcomings and genuinely want to reform the system, and this is necessary in a democracy... Those who want to speak against the government democratically, their voice too gets lost in the Congress's noise," said PM Modi, as part of his keynote address at the NDTV World Summit 2026 in New Delhi, accusing the Congress of destroying such movements.
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The remarks come at a time when, besides the Congress-led INDIA bloc that has the Samajwadi Party and the Left among its constituents, other Opposition parties such as the AAP have also been on the streets, as has been the youth movement Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) that forced the change of the education minister in July. There has lately been some synergy between the Congress and the statedly apolitical CJP on the issue of alleged police excesses to quell demonstrations.
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"The Congress has become a parasite that does not want to let anyone move ahead. 'Dimagi Naxals' have so taken over Congress's mind that the party has lost its own capacity to think," he said. The PM suggested the Congress is similarly hogging space inside Parliament too. "We have seen in Parliament how many talented young MPs there are in Opposition parties who want to make their point and criticise the government. But Congress does not let Parliament function, so that others don't get a chance, because Congress wants to keep only one person in the limelight," he said, speaking in Hindi.
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He also said the Congress has dissent within over Rahul Gandhi's constant centrality. "Let Congress bring whatever ruin it wants upon itself... But, to shield its family from the constant stain of failure, Congress is now putting India's achievements, India's virtues and India's progress itself in the dock. The grapes are so sour that Congress has set about cutting down the vine itself," he said.
"In fact, this family has become a burden on the Congress. The party's senior leaders also understand this, and when they meet us, they even tell us so, but they swallow the humiliation and stay silent," PM Modi claimed, targeting the Gandhi family.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera reacted on X with a photo of the PM: "Brother, don't worry about us. Bundle up your own incompetence and be on your way. Don't remain a burden on the nation."
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The Congress, after changing its ally in Tamil Nadu, recently lost a major constituent of the INDIA bloc, MK Stalin's DMK, which has stayed away from Rahul Gandhi's protests on the "vote chori" issue, though it has backed the CJP's demand along the same lines for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Earlier in the address, PM Modi accused the Congress of trying to "drag India's reputation into the dust".
"Amid all these challenges, we have before us the grand goal of a Viksit Bharat (Developed India, 2047). The country's aspirations are limitless. That is why a single spirit resonates in India today, and that spirit is: 'We Will Do It'," he further said, using the "will do it" catchphrase increasingly made popular by the government in recent weeks.
He also said the global order had not changed at the pace of the world it governs. He said the United Nations and other global institutions had played a historic role but now showed clear limits in the face of current challenges. "Trade is becoming a medium of weaponisation. Technology is becoming a new arena of competition and conflict. Sea routes are becoming centres of geopolitical tensions," he said.
Quoting Chanakya's Arthashastra, he said that a weak system gives rise to "matsya nyaya", in which the big fish swallows the small. "The world needs a system that prevents the situation of matsya nyaya from arising," he said. He cited India's supply of vaccines and medicines to over 100 countries during the Covid pandemic, and the consensus Delhi Declarations at the G20 and BRICS summits held under India's leadership.