You had 10 years, what happened: Sibal's swipe at PM over his I-Day pitch

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Wednesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks during the Independence Day speech, asking where were the "achche din" and what happened as he had almost 10 years to get rid of corruption.

In a post on X, Sibal said, "PM on August 15: You said: We have to get rid of corruption. But you had almost 10 years. What happened? Where are the 'Acchhe Din'. Forgotten? Inflation is imported. Our vegetables are not!" "Next 5 years golden period. For whom? The poor, Dalits, Minorities or ?" Sibal said in a dig at the prime minister.

Sibal, who was a Union minister during UPA I and II, quit the Congress in May last year and was elected to the Rajya Sabha as an Independent member with the Samajwadi Party's support.

He has floated a non-electoral platform 'Insaaf' aimed at fighting injustice.

Setting the tone for his 2024 re-election bid, Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday called for waging a war against the "three evils" of corruption, appeasement and dynastic politics, and exuded confidence he would return to address the nation from the Red Fort next year.

Showcasing his politics of perform, reform and transform as against the previous  politics of instability, Modi, in his last Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi before the next Lok Sabha polls, also spoke of a resurgent India globally on his watch, projecting the country's rising global profile to emerge as 'Vishwa-Mitra' (friend of the world).

The next five years are a period of unprecedented development and will prove to be a golden period in realising the dream of a developed India by 2047, he asserted, assuring people of "Modi ki guarantee" that the country will become the third largest economy in the next five years.