Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday criticised former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, saying they had no faith in the potential of Indians.

Quoting a speech by Nehru from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi said that the first prime minister of the country thought that Indians were lazy and didn’t have brains.

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“Nehru had said, ‘We do not work as hard the Europeans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians or the Americans. Do not think that these communities became prosperous by some magic. They have achieved this by hard work, by smartness.’ This shows Nehru thought Indians were lazy and did not have brains. He did not trust their potential,” the Prime Minister said in Lok Sabha during a debate on Motion of Thanks on President Droupadi Murmu’s address at the beginning of the Budget Session.

Modi said that Indira Gandhi, another former prime minister form the Congress party, also thought similarly about the Indians.

“Indira ji had said from (the ramparts of) Red Fort, ‘Unfortunately, it is our habit that when a good work is approaching completion, we become complacent. And when an obstacle comes, we lose hope. Sometimes it seems the whole nation has accepted defeat’. Looking at Congress today, it appears that Indira ji may have underestimated the countrymen, but she evaluated the Congress well,” he said.

The Prime Minister also took an apparent dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying the party is trying to launch the same product over and over again.

He also held the Congress responsible for the state of the Opposition, terming it “ramifications of dynasty politics” by the grand old party.

“They failed and didn’t allow other parties to perform either. They have ruined the parliament, the Opposition and the country. I believe the country needs a strong Opposition. The country has faced the ramifications of dynasty politics, and the Congress has faced it too,” he added.