Saddened by lynching, but why defame Jharkhand: Modi

New Delhi, June 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday blasted the Congress for its attitude, highlighted the lacunae in the grand old party functioning which has left it reduced to mere 52 seats and gave a point-by-point rebuttal to almost every statement made by the Rahul Gandhi-led party post election results.

In his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's address to the joint sitting of both the Houses, the Prime Minister spoke on a range of issues and asked why is the Congress so disappointed over defeat in Lok Sabha elections. "This isn't the last election ever, there are many more to come."

"I am shocked looking at Congress. You were in power so long, but it seems you can neither digest victory nor accept defeat," said Modi attacking Congress for claiming that the BJP won elections because of media.

"We (BJP) have seen a very difficult time in the past, we also lost many elections but we didn't begin a blame game after losing. Instead, we had faith in our party workers and worked on shortcomings," the Prime Minister said in Rajya Sabha.

Speaking on the Jharkhand lynching incident for the first time, Modi said some here in the Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching.

"The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others too. But, some here in the Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. Is this fair? Why are they insulting a whole state. None of us have the right to insult the state of Jharkhand," he said.

Recalling Ghulam Nabi Azad's remark that "we do not want new India, give back our old India", Modi said maybe the senior Congress leader is seeing everything from political spectacles.

"Now they are slamming New India. Do they want old India back? Old India where cabinet decisions were torn in press meets, old India where Navy was used for personal trips, old India where numerous scams existed,old India which supported tukde tukde gang?..I think Ghulam Nabi Azad is having blurred vision, maybe he is seeing everything from political spectacles. Ghalib said something for such people 'ta umr Ghalib ye bhool karta raha, dhool chehre pe thi, aaina saaf karta raha (The dirt was on the face but kept cleaning the mirror," he said.

On pinning blame on the EVMs for lossing elections, Modi urged people including politicians to appreciate the electoral processes in India.

"We should appreciate how our electoral processes have improved over the years. In 1950s polling process took long time to complete. Violence and booth capturing were common in some places. Now, news is about rising voter turnout. This is a healthy signal. There have been so many elections with EVMs and parties that are present in the Rajya Sabha have got opportunities to govern in different states after elections were held through EVMs. Then, why question EVMs today," asked PM Modi.