Speaking in the Rajya Sabha during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, Prime Minister Modi launched a scathing attack on the economic policies of the previous Congress governments on Thursday (6th February). Taking a dig at the Gandhi family, PM Modi held it responsible for the economic mismanagement in the country. “Because of economic mismanagement and bad policies of the Royal Family, the entire society was defamed and declared guilty,” said the Prime Minister.
दिल्ली: प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने कहा, "शाही परिवार के आर्थिक कुप्रबंधन और गलत नीतियों के कारण पूरे समाज को दुनिया भर में दोषी ठहराया गया और बदनाम किया गया…"
— IANS Hindi (@IANSKhabar) February 6, 2025
(वीडियो सौजन्य: संसद टीवी) pic.twitter.com/SmqzMQlPW8
He said that in India, there was no ‘Licenseraj’ or ‘permit culture’ and free trade was always encouraged. “If we look at Indian history, there was no license raj or permit culture in India. For centuries, the people of India believed in free trade. We were among the first communities in the world to believe in free trade in the world”, he said. “Centuries ago, Indian traders travelled across countries for trade. There were no restrictions on cross-border trade. This was our nature and culture but we destroyed it,” he added.
Why PM Modi held Congress responsible for the poor economy of the country
PM Modi blamed the previous Congress governments for the poor economy of the country during the crucial years after independence. It was the Congress that formed government after independence with Jawaharlal Nehru becoming the first Prime Minister of the country. Nehru, a socialist to the core, made such flawed policies that the country remained on the edge of a food crisis. Nehru and the subsequent Congress governments did not encourage entrepreneurship and kept everything, from hotels to banks, under government control which hindered the economic progress of the country leading to red-tapism.
To justify the crawling economic growth of the country during the 1950s and 1980s which was a result of the poor economic policies of the government, the term ‘Hindu rate of growth’ was coined by Marxist economist Raj Krishna blaming the Hindu community for the poor economic growth rate. During this period, the Indian economy grew by just 3.5% on average. For some reason, this rate was named after Hindus.
This is an intrinsically flawed notion because the entire Indian history of the last thousand years bears testimony to the wealth and prosperity of this country. Prior to the Islamic and British invasions, when Indian society was predominantly Hindu, trade and commerce flourished on this land. The country was the hub of global trade. The wealth and prosperity of the country were the reason that greedy invaders attacked this land. India’s economy declined after the repeated attacks and loot by Muslim invaders and then British colonisation.
PM Modi implied that by coining the term ‘Hindu rate of growth’ for India’s slow GDP growth, the Congress maligned the name of the entire Hindu community. He stated that while the slow growth rate was the result of mismanagement of the ruling by the Nehru-Gandhi family, the entire Hindu community was held responsible and maligned in the entire world.
The PM said that the slow growth of the Indian economy after independence was the result of the licence-permit raj during Congress governments, but the Congress party blamed an entire community by naming the slow growth rate after Hindus.
Many argue that the ‘Hindu Rate of Growth’ should actually be called the ‘Nehru Rate of Growth’, because the slow growth was essentially the result of his policies. Nehru wanted that govt should run every business, and private industry was stalled by putting limit on their production through licence and permit system.
Nehruvian policies were also carried forward by his daughter Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi nationalised sectors like banking, textiles, coal, steel, copper etc. Due to this, the country had to bear the brunt of this ‘Nehru growth rate’ for many decades.
Therefore, PM Modi said that the royal family brought disrepute to India and to the Hindus on the global stage.
