'Who In India Uses Maternal Grandfather's Surname?' Congress's Stinging Reply To PM Modi Over 'Nehru' Remark

AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala told reporters that only God could save the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comments on the Gandhi family not using the Nehru name and claimed he lacks a fundamental knowledge of Indian culture by querying who in India bears the surname of their maternal grandparents, news agency PTI reported.

A day after Modi questioned why the Gandhis were embarrassed to use the Nehru surname in a speech to the Rajya Sabha, AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala told reporters that only God could save the nation.

Addressing the media at the party headquarters in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Surjewala stated: "Someone who is sitting on such a responsible position does not know or understand the culture of India...will speak like this.... You can ask any person in the country, who uses maternal grandfather's surname?"

"If he does not even have this basic understanding of India's culture, then only God can save this country," Surjewala said.

Prime Minister Modi assailed the Congress in his Rajya Sabha speech on Thursday, after the grand old party accused the government of disregarding Jawaharlal Nehru's nation-building efforts.

"...if Nehru ji's name is left out by us, we would correct our mistake as he was the first prime minister of the country. But I do not understand why anyone from his clan is afraid of keeping Nehru surname? Is there any shame in having the Nehru surname? What is the shame? When the family is not ready to accept such a great personality, why do you keep questioning us," he said.

The prime minister also chastised Nehru and previous Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for regularly invoking Article 356 of the Constitution to destabilise non-Congress state administrations.

(With Inputs From PTI)