Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday broke his silence on the Opposition’s boycott of the inaugural ceremony of the new Parliament building on Sunday and said that some people were unable to digest the praise the country is receiving globally for its development.

In a direct attack on Congress, the Prime Minister said that the party had sacrificed India’s moment of pride for its selfish opposition. “The inauguration of the new Parliament was a once-in-a-generation moment. But the Congress sacrificed this moment of pride for India only for its selfish opposition,” he said, addressing a rally in Ajmer, Rajasthan, adding that the party had insulted the hard work of 60,000 workers and the sentiments and aspirations of the country.

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The opening ceremony of the new Parliament had run into a major controversy with over 20 opposition parties, including Congress, boycotting the event. A total of 19 Opposition parties said in a joint statement ahead of the opening ceremony that the government’s decision to let the Prime Minister inaugurate the new Parliament building instead of the President was an affront to the Constitution as well as an insult to the office of the President of India.

Speaking at the rally, which also marked the beginning of a month-long mass connect campaign of the BJP on the completion of nine years in power, PM Modi led a no-hold-barred attack against the Congress. The Congress, the PM said, had made a corrupt system that was eating up the development of the country.

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“Our country never had a shortage of money for development work… Congress is a party that takes a cut of 85 per cent commission in every project. We were able to do development because we plugged the leakages created by the Congress party,” the PM said.

In a dig at the Congress, the Prime Minister further said that the grand old party never discriminated when it came to corruption. “Congress doesn’t discriminate when it comes to loot. Congress loots every citizen of the country… poor, exploited, tribal, minority, women and disabled all equally.”

The Prime Minister also invoked Rajiv Gandhi in his speech and said that even the former PM admitted to corruption under Congress’ rule. “Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had also accepted that if the Congress government sends 100 paise, 85 paise would go to corruption,” he said.

The Prime Minister also utlised the opportunity to launch an all-out attack on freebie politics, specifically targetting the pre-poll guarantees promised by the Congress in various states. “People of Rajasthan and Karnataka are witness to this. They made guarantees to implement promises within 10 days of coming to power. Did any of you get anything? It is their policy, their formula. If they implement their promises, the state and the country will go bankrupt,” the PM added.

PM Modi also underlined the several measures taken by the government towards improving the lives of citizens in the nine years of its rule at the Centre. The event today which was held to mark the completion of nine years in power also saw a push from the Prime Minister to project BJP as the right alternative to the Congress in Rajasthan as well.