NEW DELHI: Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the Congress party has been left behind as the country moves forward and progresses on the global stage, with citizens finding the opposition party’s criticism of the govt ineffective and pessimistic.“The train has left the station. Congress is still at the station. The country is moving forward as all 36 bogies – 28 states and 8 Union territories – move ahead. The train is powering the world,” Scindia said. Asked about Congress neta Rahul Gandhi and his criticism of Modi govt on foreign soil, Scindia, who quit Congress a few years ago, said, “For those who go abroad and on foreign soil talk our Maa Bharti down, there is no space for them in the souls, hearts and minds of 140 crore Indians. But some people still refuse to learn. And so, the country moves on.”Responding to charges that the BJP-headed govt calls any criticism of its governance ‘anti-national’, Scindia admitted that mistakes can happen. “Certainly, all of us are fallible. You cannot say no one makes mistakes. But as long as you have the trust of the citizens, you should be proud of what India has become… But the tirade, tone and tenor of the leader – whose only thing is to bring down the image of our country and get the chair – has been rejected by the people. Indians have no space for these pessimists.”On the Special Intensive Revision and the mammoth exercise of revision of voter lists, he dismissed the Opposition’s charge of ‘vote chori’ as opportunistic. “Is it the first time this is happening? This exercise used to happen every 15 years and also during the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Then how can it be wrong in Modi’s time? If you win the election due to SIR, then it is good. If you lose, then it is vote chori.“
