Congress split Andhra like it divided India for political gains: Modi

Amid noisy protests in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday tore into the Congress for what he termed as "dividing" Andhra Pradesh and earlier the country in 1947 for political gains.

"This is your character. You divided India. Even after 70 years of Independence, 125 crore people of India continue to suffer because of the poison you sowed. Not a single day passes when people of India are not punished for your sins," Modi said, speaking in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address.

Modi addressed the House amid slogan shouting by some MPs demanding financial package for Andhra Pradesh as was promised by the government when Telangana was carved out of it during the fag end of the UPA rule.

The Prime Minister said the Congress "hastily" divided the southern state for political gains.

"When we speak about creating new states, we remember the manner in which Atal Bihari Vajpayee created Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. He showed how farsighted decision making is done," Modi said.

He said the opposition's criticisim of the government had no substance as in their articulation "they go back to saying - 'when we were in power....'

"This is the same party that divided India. For decades, one party devoted all their energies to serve one family. The interests of the nation were over looked just for the interests of one family."

He said the Congress keeps telling the nation that India got democracy due to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress. "Is this their reading of India's history? What arrogance is this?"

Modi said India did not get democracy due to Nehru and asked the Congress leaders to "please look at our rich history where there are many examples of rich democratic traditions that date back centuries ago".

"Democracy is integral to this nation and is in our culture."