Sandip Dikshit lashes out at Arun Jaitley for criticising Nehruvian model of development

Jaitley is an admirer of Nehru and he is making such unfortunate statements just to please Narendra Modi, who is trying to project himself as demigod

Condemning Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's criticism of the Nehruvian model of development, the Congress Party on Monday alleged that the former was trying to please 'narcissist' Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who neither understands India nor has much knowledge.

Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit told ANI it is sad when a person like Jaitley makes such statement.

"And it's very clearly a part of the process of the Prime Minister trying to project himself as a demigod and that is what Mr Jaitley is doing.  Jaitley knows what happened in India, I know he is an admirer of Nehru and people know very clearly what he really believes," Dikshit said.

"And when he tries to make statements that are not part of his believe system obviously it is a part of trying to keep the Prime Minister happy who is neither somebody who understands India nor he has much of knowledge and has now become seeped in self-praise. If there is narcissism today, it is the Prime Minister," he added.

The Congress leader also lashed out at Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh for terming Jammu and Kashmir a glaring example of the 'failure' of India's first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's political model, saying he really pities him as he has no understanding of Kashmir and India.

"I don't think Jitendra Singh even understands what happened in Kashmir, what happened in India, what is the kind of India Nehru built, what was the situation in the 40s and 50s, how is it that thousands of colleges and institutions, the establishment of democracy, the way Indian Army was made a secular institution, putting up of courts, putting India together," said Dikshit.

"All this was done during the regime of Nehru how various industries, dams, irrigation, canals came up," he added.

Addressing a "Yaad Karo Kurbani" rally on the outskirts of Jammu yesterday, Singh said Jammu and Kashmir is a glaring example of the "failed" politics of the country's first prime minister.

"Yesterday, Union Finance Minister spoke about the failed Nehruvian model of economy and today I say that if you want to see the failed political model of Nehru, then Jammu and Kashmir is the best example," he said.

The Union Finance Minister had earlier lambasted the Nehruvian model.

Jaitley dubbed former prime minister Narasimha Rao as 'not a great reformer' or a 'big liberaliser' and said that he initiated reforms out of 'compulsion' due to failure of Nehruvian economics which held India back while its Southeast Asian neighbours marched ahead.