Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, 5 June launched a pointed political offensive against the Indian National Congress at a public gathering in Surat, accusing the opposition party of spending 12 years manufacturing instability to engineer electoral gains — a strategy he said voters were decisively rejecting across the country.

The Core Charge

Modi alleged that Congress had persistently attempted to capitalise on uncertainty and disorder rather than offer constructive governance. “For the last 12 years, Congress has been trying to create opportunities for itself by spreading uncertainty and disorder. But the people of the country are repeatedly giving it a firm response,” he said, addressing the Surat gathering.

The Prime Minister framed this as Congress pursuing what he termed a ‘politics of dependency’ — a style of politics he argued was being repudiated at every level of electoral contest, from national polls down to municipal bodies.

State-Level Defeats Cited as Evidence

Modi pointed to a series of recent electoral outcomes as proof of Congress’s declining public standing. He specifically highlighted Himachal Pradesh, where Congress currently leads the state government, claiming the party had suffered a “severe defeat” in local body elections. “The people of Himachal rejected Congress’s misgovernance,” he said.

He also cited Haryana’s municipal election results and political developments in Punjab as further signals of voter disenchantment. “Before that, Congress was defeated in Haryana’s municipal elections, and the people of Punjab also delivered a clear message to Congress,” Modi said.

Notably, this is not the first time Modi has used state and local body results to build a national narrative against the Congress — a rhetorical pattern that has been a consistent feature of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) political communication since 2014.

Gujarat as a Political Benchmark

Modi used Gujarat — the state in which he was speaking — as a centrepiece of his argument. He described the BJP’s record victories in recent local body elections there as a reflection of public endorsement of the party’s ‘spirit of service’, which he said Gujarat voters had backed consistently over the past two-and-a-half decades.

He characterised Congress as having been pushed “to the margins” in the state, arguing that Gujarat had led the way in reducing the party’s political influence — a trend he suggested was now spreading nationally.

BJP's Framing: Development Over Disruption

The Prime Minister drew a sharp contrast between what he described as Congress’s ‘chaos politics’ and the BJP’s stated focus on governance and infrastructure. He argued that electoral mandates carry responsibility, and should be treated as an opportunity to deepen public service rather than as a political prize.

“The message is that Congress’s politics of dependency will not work. Its politics of seeking opportunity in chaos will not work,” he said, adding that the ultimate goal remained building a developed Gujarat and a developed India through sustained governance.

What Comes Next

The Surat address comes ahead of a politically active calendar, with several state assembly elections on the horizon. Congress has not yet formally responded to Modi’s remarks. The BJP’s sustained use of local body results to frame a national anti-Congress narrative signals an early sharpening of the party’s messaging strategy for the cycle ahead.