Modi attacks Congress over delay in projects, ‘Hindu rate of growth’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the previous Congress governments for its mismanagement and wrong policies that led to slow economic growth, which was coined as the “Hindu rate of growth”, saying an entire society faced abuse and humiliation.

Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, Modi also targeted the Congress for delay in implementation of infrastructure projects during its regime and asserted that his government has completed many such delayed projects.

“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,” Modi said. “The image of Hindus got tarnished across the world due to the economic mismanagement and wrong policies of the ‘shahi parivaar’ (royal family).”

He asserted that the world is now witnessing the “Bharat rate of growth”, with India emerging as the fastest growing major economy.

The phrase “Hindu rate of growth” was used to refer the slow annual growth rate of 4% during 1950s to the 1980s.

In his 90-minute address in the Upper House, the PM also criticised the Congress for fostering the “licence-permit raj”, which made it impossible for people to buy things without obtaining licences and permits.

“A former finance minister of Congress who considers himself very knowledgeable had admitted once that no work could be done in India without a licence permit and licences could not be procured without bribes. Anyone can understand who indulged in bribery in those days, whose palm it was,” Modi said, without naming anyone.

To draw home the difficulties in procuring essentials such as cooking gas cylinders and telephone connections and even vehicles for private use during the Congress regime, the PM said, a sitting Congress MP’s father had to wait 15 years to be able to buy a car, despite having the money for it.

“To buy a scooter, you needed government permission. MPs were given coupons to distribute 25 cooking gas cylinders in their areas. Telephone connections took years,” he said. “These restrictions and licence raj policies pushed India into the world’s slowest economic growth rate slab.”

He also listed a bunch of development projects that were cleared during the Congress regime but took decades for completion, including some critical road and rail projects.

“The Saryu river project was approved in 1972 and it was completed five decades later in 2021. The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail line was approved in 1994 but was completed by us in 2025. Odisha’s Haridaspur-Paradip rail line was sanctioned in 1996 but was completed in 2019,” Modi said.

The PM also cited the example of Bogibeel Bridge in Assam, which got approval in 1998. “Our government completed it in 2018, after waiting for decades. This shows the inefficiency of the Congress governments,” he said.

Drawing a comparison between the Congress regimes and the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s model of functioning, Modi accused the previous governments of adhering to a policy of “atkana, latkana, aur bhatkana (stall, delay and mislead)” instead of following the principle of “sabka saath, sabka vikas (inclusive development for all)”.

Modi said that he himself monitors the pace of projects through PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) — a digital governance platform.