Digvijay Singh hits back at Modi over his 'secularism' comment

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has hit out at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over his secularism comment.

"I want to know what is the definition of secularism according to Modiji. One religion, one culture, one nation is the definition of secularism according to the RSS and Advaniji. Modiji should clarify what is his definition of secularism,"

Singh told media here.

Referring to allegations by Modi about the way Commonwealth Games were organised, Singh said that the conduct of games was lauded internationally.

On Modi's remarks relating to food security bill, Singh said that the central government was providing a food subsidy of Rs 1,25,000 crores and had left selection of beneficiaries to the states.

Modi on Sunday charged Congress with wearing the "burqa (veil) of secularism" and "hiding in a bunker" each time it is confronted with a crisis.

Addressing a public meeting in Pune, Modi also attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on the issue of his party's "failure" to eradicate poverty and alleged that it was raising the bogey of "threat to secularism" to throttle people's aspirations.

Modi also blamed the Congress for the deteriorating economic condition of the country, and specifically targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a great economist, for failing to prevent the free fall of the rupee.

"When India achieved Independence, that time one Indian rupee was equivalent to one U.S. dollar. Today, the Indian rupee is in a free fall. What is the reason behind the free fall of the rupee? It is because the Congress is neck-deep in corruption," he said.

He also criticized the government for pushing the food security ordinance through without a proper debate in both houses of parliament, and said the country needs action not acts.

"The Congress wants to take the full credit for the Food Security Bill. I want to ask the Delhi Government - during the Parliament session, why did you introduce an ordinance instead of bringing in the Food Security Bill itself? Why? It is because of a trust deficit between the Congress and its allies in the UPA. Government may not be able to provide food to the poor but it has decided to provide the poor a piece of a paper called Food Security Bill," he said.

Earlier, Modi addressed students of Pune's Fergusson College on the Indian education system, and expressed his concern over it becoming a money-making business. The education system needs modernisation, not westernization, he said.