New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his speech in the Rajya Sabha, with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge wondering how can a person who "just lives in history" build the present and the future.

The opposition party also alleged that the prime minister's speech was "full of lies and half-truths".

Kharge claimed that in the hands of this government, the "country's future is dark". Instead of talking about unemployment, inflation, economic inequality, recession, falling rupee, falling private investment and the failed 'Make in India', PM Modi kept cursing the Congress, he said.

"How can a person who just lives in history build the present and the future," the Congress president said.

Modi on Thursday accused the Congress of practising appeasement politics to get votes and asserted that the BJP-led Union government was working on the principle of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'.

The prime minister said the Congress' priority was "family first" and its policies had been focused around it.

In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said the first amendment to the Constitution was made so that reservation could be given to the backward classes and landlordism could be abolished.

Through this amendment, the 9th Schedule was added to the Constitution, land reforms took place and landlordism was abolished, he said.

The Congress chief said, "Through this amendment, Article 15 (4) was added to the Constitution, due to which SCs, STs, and later OBCs could get reservation in employment and education." He pointed out that the Congress had made its member M R Jayakar resign from Mumbai to bring Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly.

"He (Ambedkar) became the first law minister of the country in Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru's government. The Congress wanted Babasaheb to reach Rajya Sabha with respect and helped him in this. Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar himself wrote a letter and revealed that SA Dange and Savarkar were responsible for his defeat," the Congress chief said, countering Modi.

"The truth is that the Congress itself did liberalisation. This work started with Indira Gandhi ji and was completed by Rajiv Gandhi ji, PV Narasimha Rao ji and Dr Manmohan Singh ji, the result of which is that today India is connected to the world economy and we have created the middle class," Kharge said.

He also said, "Indira Gandhi ji's 'Garibi Hatao' programme reduced poverty. Between 1980 and 1985, 21 per cent of the people who were below the poverty line came above the poverty line in just 5 years! Congress-UPA alone has lifted 27 crore people out of the poverty line." "Today's speech of Modi ji shows that he has accepted his mistake of deceiving the country. Today people's savings have ended due to inflation. There is huge discontent among the youth due to unemployment. The GDP growth rate is the lowest in four years. Rupee is at its weakest," the Congress chief said.

Kharge further said that farmers' income has not doubled, while their debt has tripled and the salary hike in rural India is zero.

Census was not being conducted so that the government's secrets were not exposed and the very resource of the country was being handed over to a few billionaires, he alleged.

"Countries of the world are trapping us in Tariff War but the government has no policy. Those who are rich are leaving the country. Forget about SMART Cities, our cities are no longer liveable.

"Every day democracy and the Constitution are being violated. There is no concrete preparation or policy for AI (artificial intelligence), EV (electric vehicles), R&D (research and development), innovation and Fourth Industrial Revolution for the youth," Kharge said.

But efforts are being made to feed false history to the youth, he alleged. "I want to warn the youth of the country not to fall prey to Modi ji's lies. Read the country's history and avoid RSS propaganda." In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The prime minister's capacity to divert, distort and defame is truly staggering. His 90-minute speech today in the Rajya Sabha was full of lies and half-truths." "His pathological obsession with Jawaharlal Nehru was on full display. It was a pathetic performance unworthy of the office he holds," the veteran Congress leader added.

Earlier, asked about the prime minister's address, Ramesh said Modi "kept the river of lies flowing" during his speech.

"He only has two weapons -- 'Pradhan Mantri Congress Badnam Yojana' and 'PM Itihaas Tod-Marodh Yojana'. He targeted Nehru and the Congress and presented a new history before the House. It was all lies," he said.

He did not say anything on the real issues of unemployment, economic inequality, polarisation, inflation and deteriorating ties with the US. He only targeted the Congress, the former Union minister added.

"If he (Modi) would have said something proper, we could have debated it But when he just spoke lies and gave a new shape to history, what can one say to that? We respect the post of prime minister but a person who cannot speak the truth even by mistake, how can we respect him?" Ramesh told PTI Videos outside Parliament.

Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in the Rajya Sabha, the prime minister also accused the Congress of being against the Constitution's chief architect B R Ambedkar, and recalled the Emergency of 1975-77 as well as incidents of alleged suppression of freedom of expression under earlier Congress regimes.

Modi said his government had worked for the uplift of the poor and that it stood with the country's middle class and the "neo-middle class". "Nation first is the BJP's priority..." he said.

The earlier model, especially under the Congress, was appeasement in everything. This became the crux of its politics. It would give something to small groups and deprive others. At the time of elections, it would give false hope. It ran its politics by fooling people," he said. PTI ASK NSD NSD