Prime Minister Narendra Modi today tried to take the Congress apart in a blog, warning voters to “remember the past and how one family's desire for power cost the nation so greatly”.

“If they could do it then, they can surely do it now,” wrote the Prime Minister on www.narendramodi.in. The blog was titled “Institutional respect and Institutional contempt- two contrasting approaches”.

In order to highlight his government’s productivity, the Prime Minister contrasted the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha’s “overall productivity”.

“The overall productivity of the 16th Lok Sabha was a phenomenal 85%, which is significantly higher than the productivity of the 15th Lok Sabha. Between 2014 and 2019, the Rajya Sabha’s productivity was 68%. The Interim Budget session witnessed productivity of 89% in the Lok Sabha and a mere 8% in the Rajya Sabha. The nation knows the numerical dynamics of both houses…. India should ask- why was the Rajya Sabha not working as productively as the Lok Sabha? Which were the forces disrupting the House and why?” he wrote.

The BJP has majority in the Lok Sabha, but though it has the maximum number of MPs in the Rajya Sabha, it does not have majority.

He made the familiar criticism of the Congress for the emergency imposed during Indira Gandhi’s rule and wrote that the Opposition party had “scant regard for the forces”

“When our forces strike at terrorist elements, Congress leaders accuse the political leadership of doing ‘Khoon Ki Dalali.’ When our air warriors strike at terrorists, Congress questions that too,” he said in an obvious reference to the Balakot airstrike.

He requested voters to 'think wisely”. “From the press to parliament. From soldiers to free speech. From the constitution to the courts. Institutional insult is the Congress way. Everyone is wrong, only the Congress is correct,' he said, taking a dig at the rival. 'India has seen that whenever dynastic politics has been powerful, institutions have taken a severe beating,' he said.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who did not mention anything about the Prime Minister’s blog, also spoke of institutional decline that she said was brought by the current BJP-led government. 'The Prime Minister has attacked every institution in this country for the last five years, including the institution of which all of you are a part,' Priyanka told reporters. 'So I think the PM should stop thinking that people are fools and understand that they see through all this.'