PM Modi's Nehru-pe-charcha dents Congress inflation attack

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to counter the Opposition's allegations of his government was shrugging off responsibility of the economy.

Shredding the Opposition's allegations against him and his government in his reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Modi said that their remarks had forced him to take up Nehru's name. 

He said, 'Normally I do not take Nehru's name because of you. But today, I am going to only talk about him. Pandit Nehru had stated from the ramparts of the Red Fort that sometimes even war between the Koreas can impact prices of commodities in India. The first Prime Minister of independent India was helpless. Imagine then he was saying that the inflation problem was so serious.'

The Prime Minister's remarks came soon after he finished lashing out at Congress MP P Chidambaram and reminded him of the situation when he was the finance minister of the country in the United Progressive Alliance government. 

The Prime Minister said that if Congress was in the power, it would have blamed Coronavirus for skyrocketing inflation. Today, the inflation rate is around 7 per cent in America, but we are not someone who will indulge in a blame game, PM Modi said, adding that instead, his government was taking measures to contain the rate.

Despite Covid-19, we ensured that the inflation did not go out of control; food inflation remained below 5 per cent, he said.

Slamming Chidambaram, PM Modi said, "In 2011, when you were the finance minister, you said shamelessly than don't expect magic to control inflation. You accepted that you could not control inflation. Chidambaram had then said that people can buy a Rs 15 mineral water bottle, but they have a problem if there is a one Rupee hike in wheat," PM Modi said.

Taking a cue from the Prime Minister's speech, we stumbled upon the sound recording in which Nehru is heard blaming global factors for rising inflation. He is heard saying that if something happens in the United States or Korea goes to war, the impact is felt in India.