Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took an apparent swipe at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, accusing some people of treating the Constitution and democracy as being "in their pocket" and displaying an "intoxication of power" despite being out of government.
Addressing the Kisan Tak Bharat Agriculture Conference, Modi did not name any leader or political party.
"These days, some people take out the Constitution from their pocket. They think the country's Constitution and democracy are in their pockets. Even while not being in government, they seem to be under a peculiar intoxication of power," he said.
Recalling an incident from his tenure as Gujarat chief minister, Modi alleged that those in power at the Centre had attempted to undermine the state's reputation after it secured the top rank in a ranking of the best-performing states on the economy.
He said the institution that ranked Gujarat first was named after a former Prime Minister, adding that the assessment was based on research by reputed economists.
"Those sitting in power in Delhi could not tolerate Gujarat's reputation and went after those who conducted the research," he said.
Taking a further swipe at his political opponents, Modi said the same people who spoke about democracy and martyrdom had acted differently when in power.
"This was a long time ago. You can find out through research what happened after that," he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
