Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the Congress had a history of dismembering the country into three parts, it had no blueprint for India’s economic development, and was using the Manipur crisis to hurt the confidence of the nation, which was fast-pacing towards progress.

He was replying to the debate on the no-confidence motion brought against his government by the Congress and its INDIA alliance partners in the Lok Sabha. The motion was defeated by a voice-vote after Modi’s over two-hour speech.

The Congress and its alliance partners staged a walk-out after one-and-a-half hours of the prime minister’s speech. The Opposition was demanding Modi to speak on the ethnic violence in Manipur.

After the motion was rejected, Speaker Om Birla suspended the House Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury till the availability of the report of the House privileges committee where his misconduct in the House was referred to on a government proposal.

The prime minister said in the last nine years, the common man’s confidence in the country had gone up and he was dreaming of competing internationally. India will not be cowed down, will not bend, nor slow down, he said.

Modi said people will return his party to power again in 2024. India is today the fifth largest economy, and he was guaranteeing that it would be the third largest economy in the world in his next term in office.

He said when people have confidence, the world too believes in India. His appeal was don’t try to break the confidence of the nation. Foundations are being laid for a Viksit Bharat by 2047, and this will be achieved with labour and collective determination of the people.

The strategy of Reform, Perform and Transform with labour will help India achieve the goal of the third largest economy, he said. There would be new reforms and full power will be used for performance and achieve the goal of the third largest economy, he said.

He said violence started in Manipur after a court verdict. People lost relatives, there were crimes against women. The guilty will not escape and will be given strongest punishment. The state and Central governments are making efforts, he said, and in near future, Manipur will see peace, and progress.

“I want to tell them, the country is with them, this House stands by you. We will all together find a solution. Peace will be re-established and the march on the path of development with pace will go on; I can assure there will be no let-up in efforts,” Modi said.

The Congress, he said, was only worried about politics and elections, it had no interest in the North East because it had just a couple of Lok Sabha seats. This proved why it gave the North East step-motherly treatment.

“For us, the North East is part of our heart. Problems are being presented as if the situation came about only now. I want to say the mother of all problems of the North East is Congress, and its politics,” he said.

The prime minister said the Opposition had stayed away from discussion on several vital Bills for the nation’s progress. When it came together (on the Delhi Services Bill), this was to stand by one of the most corrupt alliance partners.

Staying out of power, the Congress was not able to think coherently, he said, and this showed for the Opposition their parties were more important to them than the country. They were not thinking of the country’s future, but their own only, he said.

“We have given a scam-free government. We have encouraged people to achieve their goals, taken care of India’s international standing. Some people are not happy, and trying to harm, the world however has no doubts about India,” he said. The Opposition’s allegations about public sector units like HAL and LIC had proved wrong.

Modi said every time the Opposition brought a no-confidence motion, it proved auspicious for him, and he won another election. In the last three days in the House, the Opposition spoke all abuses. Perhaps they were trying to unload their emotions. Their favourite slogan was “Modi Teri Kabra Khudegi.”

He said people of this country had expressed no-confidence in the Congress in several states. The Congress is full of arrogance, and cannot see ground reality. The party has never won in Tamil Nadu since 1962, similarly for decades in West Bengal, UP, Bihar, Tripura and Odisha, he said.

In Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, the Congress does not have a single MLA. Sometime back in Bengaluru, the Congress performed the last rites of the UPA, but still celebrated the launch of a new vehicle with new paint and presented it as an electric car. Already, there was a quarrel over taking credit for the new political alliance, Modi said.