Modi wants to 'erase' Congress culture, but not RSS' ideology of divisiveness, vendetta: Congress

New Delhi: Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress said while Modi has stated he wants to "erase the Congress' culture" he does not want to get rid of the RSS' ideology of "divisiveness, vendetta and lynch mentality".

"The Prime Minister is upset with the idea of Congress, and wants to erase the Congress' culture," Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told media here.

Firing salvos at the Prime Minister, the Congress leader said: "Which part of the Congress' culture... the pillars of Indian democracy, does he want to erase?

"Does he want to erase the large-heartedness of Nehruvian culture, the inclusiveness, the integrity of the party to carry the whole country together, the concept of fraternity which is a Constitutional word in our Preamble which does not exist in the dictionary of the BJP?" he said.

Singhvi's remarks came a day after Modi in an interview to English news channel TimesNow said the Congress at the time of India's freedom struggle had inspired people so much that they were ready to throw their lives for the country "but post-Independence, it acquired traits of casteism, dynasty and corruption to keep control over power".

"I want to change that culture of politics, the mainstream of which is dynasty. Congress is an idea. So when I say Congress-free India, it is not related to election outcomes. I would want that even the Congress on its own should free itself of the Congress culture," Modi said in the interview.

Slamming Modi, over the remarks, Singhvi said that Modi does not want to change the "Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) ideology of vendetta and divisiveness".

"What he does not want to change is non-Congress culture of divisiveness -- that never strikes him.

"Call it BJP culture or parivar culture or RSS culture or Bajrang Dal culture," he said.

He said: "Vendetta, divisiveness, communal disharmony, lynch mentality etc. that is what he does not want to erase, but promote."

He also said that the pillars at one time proclaimed by Nehru for democracy was attributed as Congress culture. "The Congress culture was of socialism, secularism, non alignment, independent foreign policy," he said.

Referring to the country's growth during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) between 2004-14, Singhvi asked "does the Prime Minister want to erase the 10 years of the unprecedented growth which Congress culture brought".

He also highlighted the Congress works in the last 10 years, saying the Congress brought schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), insurance scheme, RTI and many others.

"Does he want to erase and replace all?" Singhvi said, adding that does Modi want to erase and replace Aadhaar.