Setting the tone for the upcoming general elections and picking up from where he left off in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday continued his attacks on the Congress – challenging the Opposition party on all issues that it has made the centre of its Lok Sabha campaign.

Replying to the debate on the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, after he had done so in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Modi was again silent on other Opposition parties and singled out the Congress.

The main talking points of the Congress which Modi made a point of taking down included its criticism of his government on representation to OBCs, SCs and STs; handling of national and internal security; “injustice” to southern states; attack on federal principles; and assault on constitutional institutions.

Targeting Rahul Gandhi, who is on his second Bharat Jodo Yatra, without naming him, Modi said the Congress had set up a “start-up” for its “prince” which, however, remains a “non-starter”. “Na toh woh lift ho raha hai, na launch ho raha hai (Neither is it getting a lift, nor seeing a launch),” he said.

The PM also exuded confidence about getting a third term in office, framing the objectives and goals of a “Modi 3.0”. Referring to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s remarks that the Congress may not win even 40 seats this time, he said, “Main prarthana karta hun aap 40 bacha payen (I pray that you manage to retain 40).”

The important takeaways from his address in the Rajya Sabha:

The Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi, has been demanding holding of a caste census and talking about abysmal representation of OBCs, SCs and STs at every level. It has also promised to remove the 50% ceiling on reservations through legislation.

In his speech, Modi said the Congress neither gave full reservation to OBCs nor to the poor among the general category, and did not find it even fit to bestow Bharat Ratna to Babasaheb Ambedkar. “And this Congress is giving us sermons on social justice!” he said.

“The Congress has always been against Dalits, backwards and tribals. Sometimes I think, had Babasaheb not been there… perhaps SC/STs would not have got reservation,” he said, going on to quote excerpts from a letter written by then PM Jawaharlal Nehru to chief ministers. “I am reading out its translation… ‘I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in jobs. I am strongly against anything which leads to inefficiency and second rate standards’… That is why I say that they (the Congress) are against it (reservation) by birth,” Modi said.

On Rahul’s repeated assertion that only three of the 90 bureaucrats at the top level are OBCs, Modi said: “Those who reel out figures today… it is because they had stopped recruitment at that. Had they recruited them in the government and promoted them from time to time, they (the backwards) would have been here today.”

He pointed out that the Congress had fielded a candidate against Droupadi Murmu when the NDA fielded her for the post of President. “It was not an ideological fight… You fielded a candidate (Yashwant Sinha) who had left us (the BJP)… So it was not an ideological opposition. Your opposition was to a tribal daughter. We first made a Dalit (Ram Nath Kovind) and then a tribal (Murmu) President.”

Modi also referred to the ouster of Sitaram Kesri as Congress president in 1998. “Kesri, who was from a most backward class, was picked up and thrown on the footpath… That video is available.”

Taking on the oft-repeated charge of the Congress and other Opposition parties that his government was trampling upon institutions and strangling democracy, Modi referred to the Emergency, and how the government led by Indira Gandhi had “imprisoned the dignity of the Constitution and democracy” and tried to shut down newspapers.

Referring to the dismissal of elected governments using Article 356 under the Congress, the PM said: “This Congress is giving us sermons on democracy and federalism!”

It was the Congress that had left no stone unturned to divide the country on caste, community and religious lines, Modi said.

The PM also quoted excerpts from a January 2013 speech by former Congress PM Manmohan Singh to counter the party. He said Singh had said there was anger in the country about the misuse of public offices. “I did not say it… It was the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” Modi said, adding that the entire country was then on the streets over the issue of corruption.

The Congress has accused the BJP government of failing on both national security and internal security fronts, raising the continuing Manipur crisis and the border dispute with China.

Modi said that it was the Congress whose governments had let separatism and terrorism flourish “to secure its interests”. He accused the party of letting the Northeast descend into violence, separatism and backwardness, letting Naxalism become a challenge, and letting “enemies snatch precious Indian territory”. The PM said the Congress had not allowed modernisation of armed forces either. “And they are giving us sermons on national security and internal security!”

Speaking on the day the entire Karnataka Cabinet staged a protest in Delhi, alleging injustice to the state in devolution of taxes and release of funds, and ahead of a similar protest by the Kerala government, Modi accused the Congress of creating a “North-South divide”.

He said the party was, in fact, creating “a new narrative” for dividing the country. “Itna toda kam nahin hai… Uttar-Dakshin koh todne ke liye bayaan diya ja raha hai (What they have divided isn’t enough… statements are being made to divide North and South),” he said.

“I am pained by one thing. The nation is not just land for us, but an inspirational unit. When a thorn pricks one’s foot, it’s the hand that reaches out to extract it. It does not say that it does not care about the foot. The eye also swells with tears. If one part of the body does not work, the whole body is considered disabled. If one part of the country is backward, the nation suffers. The nation has to be seen as a whole, not in parts,” Modi added.

“A national party is thinking of such things? What language is being used today? ‘Our tax, our money’? Stop searching for new narratives to break the nation. We have to take the whole nation forward,” the PM said. “If a Jharkhand boy gets an Olympic medal, do we think he is from Jharkhand? We say he is from our country. If we spend on that boy, it is for the country, not for Jharkhand. Will we ask in which state or city of the country a vaccine was made?” Modi said.

With the Congress slipping in North India, especially after the recent Assembly election results, and thriving largely in the South, including Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala, the PM’s remarks were an attempt to reach out to the South while at the time suggesting to people in the North that the Congress was against their interests.

“I have been lucky that I got a chance to serve as Chief Minister for a long time. So, I understand regional aspirations. Digvijaya Singhji (Congress), Deve Gowdaji (JD-S) also understand it. For 10 years, the UPA government tried its level best to do injustice to Gujarat. I don’t cry over it… despite all those problems. I did not get appointments with ministers, who offered to talk on phone but not to meet me as CM, for fear that they may be seen with me on a video camera. There was a natural calamity (in Gujarat). I requested the then PM (Manmohan Singh) to come. He decided to come. But then a committee met (and things changed). He went to the South… He said he would do a survey from the air, but not come (to Gujarat). I understand what might have happened,” Modi said.

With the Congress repeatedly targeting the government over its handling of the economy and failure to provide enough jobs, Modi focused on his government’s economic initiatives compared to the UPA’s.

He said that during the UPA government’s 10-year period, India moved just one notch up, from the 12th largest economy to 11th, and its situation was among “the fragile five”. The Congress government was also known for policy paralysis, he added. “On the other hand, in our 10 years, India is among the top five economies of the world.”

Modi said that in his time, the PSU numbers have increased and their profits risen to Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Accusing the Opposition of spreading rumours about LIC, he said that PSUs shares today are trading at a record high price. He also accused the Congress of having virtually destroyed PSUs like MTNL, BSNL, HAL, Air India during its 10-year rule.