Modi government controlled by RSS: Anand Sharma

The Narendra Modi government was being remote-controlled by the RSS, Congress leader and former union minister Anand Sharma said here on Sunday.

"The RSS is trying to affect the thought process of the youth," Sharma told reporters here, referring to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief's statement on changing the school syllabi.

Sharma said the Modi government must remember that India is a secular nation where all religions have lived with harmony since centuries and would continue to do so.

He said the slogan of "minimum government, maximum governance" has now changed to "one man government".

"Nobody in the current government has the right to even appoint their departmental heads," he said, pointing out that many important government institutions were still running without their chiefs.

Referring to the one-year performance of the government, Sharma, who belongs to the Himachal Pradesh capital, said "acche din" (good days) was just a slogan used by Modi to befool people.

"Issues like effective governance and increasing employment opportunities are missing in the priority of the government. The economic growth which the NDA is boasting of is not visible in their budget."

The Congress leader said the budget presented by the government was less than that of the UPA government, pointing that the education budget was cut down to 3.2 percent compared to six percent in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime.

Sharma refuted the allegation made by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance of inheriting a weak economy from the previous regime.

He said that during the UPA government, India became the first country to achieve four times GDP growth in a decade.