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With Congress President Sonia and Rahul Gandhi listening keenly in Parliament, PM Narendra Modi speech highlighted role of and showered praise on the contributions of India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru towards development of India, saying he was a great personality, and rejected the perception that the NDA government was trying to deny credit to him. The special effort by PM Narendra Modi is to get Congress on board in Parliament to pass crucial legislation to kickstart NDA's big bang reforms, without whom govt will fail. Check out top 10 highlights of Narendra Modi speech: (PTI photo)
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1. Narendra Modi: "Today's topic of discussion is not about 'I' and 'you' but it is about 'We'….I have said from the Red Fort (in Independence Day address) and I am repeating that all previous governments and former Prime Ministers have made efforts and have contributed in making the country great." (PTI photo)
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2. Narendra Modi: "Hard work of many leaders has gone into shaping India. States also have played a role…There may be complaints that some government has done less but nobody can that previous governments have done nothing," the Prime Minister said. (PTI photo)
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3. Narendra Modi: "26 November is a historical occasion and our intention is not to downplay the importance of January 26. We celebrate January 26 because of November 26." (PM was answering questions raised by Congress over holding of the discussion now instead of January 26 when the Indian Republic came into being, Modi said.) (PTI photo)
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4. Narendra Modi: One time Ram Manohar Lohia contested Jawaharlal Nehru's figures on some issue. "Pandit Nehru said he would not challenge Lohia. Such was the greatness of Pandit Nehru." (PTI photo)
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5. Narendra Modi: “Everyone including the poor people and workers have worked to make this country. We have to accept their contribution. We must focus on dignity of India and unity of India." (PTI photo)
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6. Narendra Modi said that the political "dal-bhakti" had unfortunately increased and now everything is seen with a political colour. (PTI photo)
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7. Narendra Modi agreed with Sonia Gandhi's contention that it is not enough to have a good Constitution as those in power should implement it properly also. (PTI photo)
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8. Narendra Modi: "Preserving the sanctity of the Constitution is the responsibility of all of us. The government may be formed on the basis of majority but decisions have to be taken on the basis of consensus. There should be consensus, at least efforts should be made for consensus. And if these fail, then the issue of majority-minority would come in. In this House, we are not going to force any decision but make efforts for consensus… If nothing helps then the ultimate is majority-minority." (PTI photo)
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9. "For us, the Constitution assumes more importance. India is full of is so much of diversity and there are different aspirations and it is our responsibility to fulfill them," he said. (PTI photo)
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10. Narendra Modi: "We are all humans… We all make mistakes and often these mistake haunt us. We should think about Constitution in terms of helping the poor… It is our duty to provide him opportunity to grow." (PTI photo)
