“Modi is presiding over the murder of democracy in India,” says Congress

The Congress on Wednesday (June 10, 2026) launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who broke Jawaharlal Nehru’s record as the longest-serving elected prime minister, saying Mr Modi had a “Nehru fixation” and accused Mr Modi of “presiding over the murder of democracy in India”.

In a post on social media platform X, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh accused the Modi government of “undoubtedly inventing a milestone”, referring to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) celebration of Mr Modi after becoming the longest-serving elected prime minister.

Comparing Nehru’s tenure with that of Mr. Modi, Mr. Ramesh said that Nehru presided over a star-studded cabinet in 1947 that laid the foundations of modern India.

“The record of India’s achievements from 1947-52 with Nehru as Prime Minister and in which stalwarts like Sardar Patel, Dr. Ambedkar, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, C. Rajagopalachari and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad played such a pivotal role,” Mr. Modi said now to erase his post Ramesh pathological fixation on Mr. Ramesh.

“He may have crossed a self-proclaimed and dubiously fabricated milestone today, but he is a millstone around India’s neck, presiding over the murder of democracy in India,” the Congress chief added.

Enumerating the achievements of Nehru’s first cabinet, Mr. Ramesh said 560 princely states were peacefully integrated into the Indian Union, the Constitution of India was negotiated and adopted, zamindari was abolished, reservations were introduced for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, multi-purpose irrigation infrastructure for scientific projects was introduced and started, and nuclear power projects were launched in India, “as a force in global affairs”.

“Electoral rolls containing 170 million registered voters were drawn up to ensure universal adult suffrage and India’s first free general elections were held between October 1951 and February 1952. Those very democratic institutions – the independent electoral commission and the sacred electoral roll – are now under threat,” Mr Ramesh said.

The scholarly mood was erased by the destruction of Indian educational institutions that were “exposed by the recent NEET-CBSE scandals”; and reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes have been weakened through privatization and other means, he argued.

“And while Nehru won in 1952, 1957 and 1962 with overwhelmingly decisive majorities, Mr. Modi did NOT even get a simple majority in 2024 by a wide margin and had to hastily convene an NDA meeting bypassing the BJP parliamentary party to anoint himself PM. 2024 was definitely not a mandate for him.”

Published – 10 Jun 2026 21:37 IST