PM omits Nehru, Sonia takes dig at RSS in Quit India debate

Gandhi gave a clarion call ‘karenge ya marenge’. Today it is ‘karenge aur kar ke rahenge. We can and will not allow the idea of India to be a prisoner to divisive and communal ideology.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call on Wednesday to rid the country of corruption, poverty and illiteracy and create a new India by 2022, even as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi expressed concern over attempts by “forces of darkness” to destroy the roots of democracy.

They were speaking at a special discussion in the Lok Sabha on the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, a defining event of India’s freedom struggle. “In 1942, (Mahatma) Gandhi gave a clarion call Karenge Ya Marenge (Do or Die). Today it is Karenge Aur Kar Ke Rahenge (we will do and surely do). The next five years should also be about Sankalp Se Siddhi (pledge to achieve), a resolve which will lead us to accomplishment,” Modi said.

He did not mention first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in his speech of about 30 minutes, but remembered leaders such as the Mahatma, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jai Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Chandra Shekhar Azad.

For her part, Congress chief Gandhi made a veiled attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor, without naming the organisation. “We should not forget that there were people and organisations that had opposed the Quit India Movement and they played no role in the freedom struggle,” she said.

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