Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday doubled down on his attacks on the Congress, declaring party stalwart and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said he was against reservations for marginalised communities because it “promoted inefficiency in the system”.

“I remember Nehruji a lot these days…” Mr Modi began, “He once wrote a letter to chief ministers, in which he said he was against reservation and that (it promoted) non-meritorious people.”

“Nehruji used to say that if SC, ST or OBCs get reservation in jobs, then government work standards will fall. He even stopped recruitment. What Nehruji said has been pathhar ki lakeer (‘set in stone’) for the Congress since. Your mindset can be understood through such examples,” the PM lashed out.

“The party has always been against the interest of SC and ST communities.”

“But we have always prioritised them… first Dalits and now Adivasis. Who are the beneficiaries of our schemes? All our works are for the SC, ST, and OBC communities,” the PM continued.

The PM also referred to President Murmu’s election; she is the first tribal woman to hold the post.

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“Your (opposition to Ms Murmu) wasn’t for ideology. You made someone who went from BJP (former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha) the candidate. You were opposed to an Adivasi woman.”

The sharp comments on the Congress – part of a vitriolic attack in the Rajya Sabha (following similarly sharp remarks in the Lok Sabha Monday) – come weeks before a general election the BJP is expected to win, and one in which a caste survey/census, and reservation, are likely to be key poll planks.

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On Monday the PM targeted both Mr Nehru and another Congress stalwart and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, claiming their speeches revealed they had no faith in Indians’ abilities.

“The Congress never trusted India’s potential. They always considered themselves rulers and belittled people,” the Prime Minister claimed, before he attacked Nehru (again) for the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. “Kashmiris have paid a heavy price for Nehru’s mistake…” he declared.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday borrowed from Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take a swipe at the Congress ahead of a Lok Sabha election due in less than two months, declaring “I pray you can save at least 40 seats”. The Prime Minister was in the Rajya Sabha to take part in the Motion of Thanks discussion on President Droupadi Murmu‘s address to Parliament.

“The challenge has come from West Bengal… that the Congress will not be able to cross 40 (seats),” Mr Modi chuckled to a soundtrack of BJP MPs thumping desks, “I pray you can save at least 40”.

Ms Banerjee – whose relationship with the Congress and the party-led INDIA bloc is close to collapsing over a seat-sharing row – last week doubted the Congress’ ability to win “even 40 seats”.

READ | Doubt Congress Will Get “Even 40 Seats” In Lok Sabha Polls: Mamata Banerjee

The Congress has slumped to catastrophic defeats in the past two general elections, winning 72 seats in the 2014 poll and only 44 five years later. For contrast, in 2009 the party won 206 seats.

Her remarks followed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s claim that seat-sharing talks are ongoing.

Questioned over the Bengal leader’s apparent distancing from the INDIA bloc, Mr Gandhi indicated he remains optimistic an agreement between the two parties is still possible. “Neither Mamataji nor Congress has come out of the alliance… Mamataji is saying she is (still) in the alliance,” he said.

The Bengal Chief Minister responded with a scathing attack on Mr Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ – which has visited six districts as it marches to Maharashtra – and compared the foot march to a “mere photo opportunity” for “migratory birds”, one aimed at dividing minority votes in the state.

“I proposed Congress contest 300 seats… but they refused. Now, they’ve arrived in the state to stir up Muslim voters. (Now) I doubt whether they will secure even 40 seats if they contested 300.”

Ms Banerjee then dared the Congress to take on and defeat the BJP in Hindi heartland states like the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh; these send 134 MPs to the Lok Sabha and are ruled by the BJP, which dumped the Congress out of the latter two in November.

Trinamool-Congress ties are nearly at breaking point as a result of disagreements over dividing Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats between themselves and Left parties, which are also INDIA members.

Last month Ms Banerjee declared her party will contest all 42 on its own, and only consider an INDIA alliance after the election results, indicating her distrust in the bloc’s ability to challenge the BJP.

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“I had no discussions with Congress. I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I gave them (the Congress) many proposals… but they rejected them. I am not concerned about what will be done in the (rest of the) country… but we are secular and, in Bengal, we alone will defeat BJP,” she said.

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In a speech replete with fiery poetry, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today welcomed the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and made it clear that the Krishna Janmabhoomi land dispute comes next on the BJP’s priority list.

“When Nandi Baba saw the celebrations in Ayodhya, he was adamant and threw the barricades open at night. Now our Krishna Kanhaiya is adamant,” Mr Adityanath told the Assembly.

“Nandi Baba” here refers to Nandi the celestial bull, believed to be Lord Shiva’s vehicle. The reference is clear – the case involving the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi. Last week, Hindu prayers resumed in one of the mosque’s cellars after a gap of 30 years following a district court order. The prayers were held at 3 am, hours after the court order. The cellar where the prayers were held faces the Nandi idol in the adjoining Kashi Vishwanath temple. The Varanasi mosque is at the centre of a drawn out legal battle after Hindu petitioners approached courts for permission to pray in different parts of the temple.

Mr Adityanath’s “Krishna” mention is an apparent reference to the Krishna Janmabhoomi case. Hindu petitioners have claimed that Shahi Idgah, a 17th century mosque in Mathura, stands on the place where Lord Krishna was born. The Allahabad High Court recently permitted an archaeological survey of the site.

The firebrand BJP leader’s remarks here are a clear indication that after Ayodhya, the Kashi (Varanasi) and Mathura matters are high on their agenda. Significantly, the remarks come shortly after the Ayodhya temple treasurer Govind Dev Giri Maharaj said that Hindus “will forget” issues related to temples “once Kashi and Mathura are freed”.

Mr Adityanath said Ayodhya suffered “injustice” for over 5,000 years. The Ram temple in Ayodhya is coming up at the site where Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, stood before it was demolished in 1992 by right-wing activists who believed it was built on the ruins of a temple marking the birthplace of Lord Ram. A Supreme Court order in 2019 handed over the disputed land to a trust for the construction of a temple.

Expressing his joy on the day of the grand consecration ceremony at the temple, Mr Adityanath said, “I was happy that our Lord has taken his place in the temple. I was happy that the consecration has been done. But I was also happy that we fulfilled our promise, ‘mandir’ wahin banaya’ (built the temple there),” he said.

The ‘mandir wahin banaya’ phrase was a play on the ‘mandir wahin banayenge’ slogan of right-wing activists when the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation gained steam in the 1990s.

Mr Adityanath quoted extensively from Rashmirathi, a fiery epic by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar in which he narrates the story of Karna, a key character in Mahabharata.

A section in Rashmirathi, titled Krishna ki Chetavani (Krishna’s warning), narrates Lord Krishna’s last-ditch attempt to avoid war between the Kauravas and Pandavas.

“Krishna had gone to the Kauravas and offered a negotiation deal. But Duryodhana refused. This is what has happened with Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. Krishna had asked for five villages, we are asking for three centres of our faith,” he said, adding that the Hindu majority has “pleaded” for its beliefs for years.

Mr Adityanath blamed votebank politics for the situation. “When politics kicks in and votes are looked at, dispute begins,” he said.