Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the Covid-19 pandemic was something that humankind had not seen in the last 100 years, and yet the Opposition chose to boycot an all-party meeting on the crisis when the government was scheduled to present a report.

"This (Covid) crisis changes its forms and creates trouble for the people, the entire country and world are fighting against it," he said replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks on the President's Address on February 8.

Modi said efforts of India in fight against Covid-19 is being appreciated globally. "When Covid-19 began, it was being discussed what will become of India. It was also discussed what will be the impact on the world due to India. But due to the willpower and discipline of the 130 crore people of the country, efforts of India is being appreciated across the world," PM Modi said.

He hit out at the Opposition for boycotting an all-party meeting during Covid-19. “Some people need self-introspection. When an all-party meeting over Corona was held and the government was supposed to give detailed presentation, attempts were made to speak to some political parties to convince them to not attend it. They themselves did not come and boycotted the meeting.”

Modi said that immaturity of some political parties in last two years has disappointed the nation. “A few leaders of some political parties have shown immaturity in the last two years which has disappointed the nation. We have seen how games have been played due to political selfishness. Campaigns were done against Indian vaccines."

Modi's sharpest criticism was directed at the Congress. when he said that "talent is the first casualty of dynastic politics" and listed how the country would have been different "if the Congress had not been there".

"The Congress's problem is it has never thought beyond its dynasty. The biggest threats to democracy are dynastic parties. And when a family becomes paramount then the first casualty is talent," PM Modi said in the Rajya Sabha, reported ndtv.com.

"People wonder what if there had been no Congress. They are stuck in India is Indira, Indira is India," the PM said, referring to a Congress slogan in favour of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

He said Mahatma Gandhi wanted the Congress to be scrapped. "This was Mahatma Gandhi's wish - he knew what would happen if they remained and said destroy this. If Gandhi's wishes had been followed, India would have been free from nepotism," he remarked.

"If, going by Gandhi's wish, there had been no Congress, democracy would have been free of nepotism. India would have taken the swadeshi path. There would be no stain of Emergency. Corruption would not have been institutionalised for decades. There would have been no casteism or regionalism. Sikhs would not have been massacred. There would not have been an exodus from Kashmir. Women would not have been burnt in tandoors. The common man would not have had to wait so long for basic facilities," Modi said.