Congress trying to create north-south divide: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey

New Delhi: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused the Congress on Wednesday of trying to create a north-south divide in the country, as he also blamed the opposition party for not doing enough despite being in power for almost 70 years, and stressed that "Ram Rajya" has been ushered in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Participating in the debate on the Budget in the Lok Sabha, the MP from Godda in Jharkhand said the Congress had created a "licence, quota, permit raj" after independence till 1991 and a "loot raj" from 2004 to 2014 under the Manmohan Singh government.

"Prime Minister Modi has been here for 10 years, you were in power for 70 years. When you say poverty is not getting eradicated, have you ever looked at yourself? Who is responsible for this?" Dubey asked.

"The Congress created a licence, permit, quota raj.... Only the Congress-supported industrialists could manufacture cars, scooters, cement," he said.

"From 2004 to 2014, we went into a loot raj with 2G, 4G, coal scams....," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said.

"Since 2014, not just the Ram temple but Ram Rajya has been brought," he added.

On a day when Congress leaders from Karnataka, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, are staging a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar against the BJP-led Centre over "injustice" meted out to the southern state in the devolution of taxes, Dubey accused the Congress of trying to create a rift between the north and the south.

He accused the Congress of leading to the partition of Punjab and Bengal as it was losing votes and drew a parallel with the present, alleging that they are promoting the gap between the north and the south.

"Bengal and Punjab were partitioned, because you knew that in Bengal, the Muslim League, and in Punjab, (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah's party were becoming influential.... So for vote-bank politics, the Congress divided India.... If the Congress is not getting votes, will they create a north-south divide?" he asked.

Dubey was corrected by Bhartruhari Mahtab, who was on the chair. Mahtab said in Punjab, it was not Jinnah's party but the Unionist party that was gaining in popularity.

"There is neither any Dravidian nor Aryan.... India is one. They talk of a north-south divide, Tamil Nadu and Kerala got more money than Uttar Pradesh and Bihar," Dubey said.

"We are poor, our people go there to work. The entire country knows that more than 80 per cent of the mines are in Jharkhand, Odisha, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh.... Did we say we are rich? Did we say south India should not be developed?" he asked.

Dubey also accused the Congress of corruption and referred to money being found during a raid from a leader of the party.

"That money has been used for the (Bharat Jodo Nyay) yatra," he alleged.

According to income-tax department sources, unaccounted cash amounting to more than Rs 200 crore was found from premises linked to Congress's Rajya Sabha MP Dheeraj Sahu in Odisha and Jharkhand.

"We will send the corrupt to jail. You have seen that the ED has sent (former) Jharkhand chief minister (Hemant Soren) to jail. He will not be able to fight (elections) again. He did not declare his property in the affidavit, he has more than 100 properties," the BJP leader alleged.

Taking a jibe at the opposition, he said leaders like Lalu Prasad, Madhu Koda, A Raja and Kanimozhi went to jail when the BJP was not in power.

"Would (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi apologise? Soniaji sent you to jail. They sent Karunanidhi to jail," he said.

Dubey also alleged that the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, led by Rahul Gandhi, is crossing through Muslim-majority districts and the Congress is trying to get the votes of "Bangladeshi infiltrators".

"The Congress has a tukde-tukde mentality. That is why they started the yatra from Manipur," he said, adding that the yatra passed through districts that have "Bangladeshi infiltrators".

"This is for the Bangladeshi Muslim vote...," he alleged.

Dubey also accused the Congress of supporting activists who "oppose" projects and named people such as Harsh Mander and Medha Patkar.

"The Atal Bihar Vajpayee government had decided on interlinking of rivers to eradicate floods and drought. Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh said it is bad for the environment based on a report of the Greenpeace, which was getting money from European governments. You have sold the country," he alleged.