NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that while the world is searching for a new order, some people are dreaming of disorder in India, as opposition protests over the electoral rolls continue across the country.

Addressing the NDTV World Summit in the capital, Modi named no one in that line. Reports by the Press Trust of India and ANI said his target was the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The speech matters because it ties the prime minister personally to the argument over the electoral rolls. The INDIA opposition bloc and the Cockroach Janta Party have protested in recent days over a revision of the voter lists, and Modi used a global forum to answer them.

Modi opened with foreign policy. He said the old world order was changing and asked what kind of new order countries wanted to build together. "Reform in multilateral institutions is essential. Giving due place to the voice of the Global South is essential," he said, according to PTI.

He added that international cooperation should hold in a crisis as well as in good times, and that this needed agreement among all parties involved. Siasat, also citing PTI, quoted him as saying trade was becoming a medium of weaponisation, and reported that he described technology as a competitive arena and sea routes as geopolitical flashpoints.

The tone sharpened when he turned to domestic politics. "Today, when there is so much chaos in the world, the image of a strong India should be known globally," Modi said, according to PTI, before accusing his opponents of working against that goal. The Statesman quoted him as saying: "But these people are determined to tarnish India's reputation. They go abroad and defame India, even seeking foreign intervention."

ANI reported that he accused Gandhi and others of travelling overseas to defame the country and ask foreigners to intervene. Modi said it was difficult to understand how long the Congress would put the country's interests at stake to launch what he called its failed product.

He also mocked the party's record with a comparison to India's space programme. PTI reported that Modi said the country did not have as many launches from Sriharikota in a year as the Congress made failed attempts to launch its leader.

"To save its family from the blot of failure, the Congress is questioning India's achievements," Modi said. "The grapes are sour, and the Congress is now trying to axe the vine itself. The family is now a burden on the Congress."

On the protests themselves, the Statesman reported that Modi criticised demonstrations he described as aimed at regime change. He accused unnamed people of trying to create disorder. He did not address the protesters' demand on the rolls directly, but he said some movements were genuine.

"Movements that naturally seek to expose the shortcomings of the government, they genuinely want to bring about improvements in the system, but even they get destroyed by the Congress," he said.

He went on to call the Congress a "parasite which doesn't want anyone to progress," and alleged that Naxals had taken over the party. "Those who used to destroy in the forests are now infiltrating Congress and are engaged in the complete ruin of the country," he said. Siasat reported that he also accused the party of disrupting Parliament to keep only one person in the limelight, which he said did grave injustice to young opposition MPs who want to debate and criticise the government.

None of the reports reviewed by Strait carried a response from the Congress or from Gandhi. The party has not been quoted on the speech in the early coverage, and Strait could not confirm whether it had replied by Friday morning.

The remarks land in the middle of a tense stretch. According to PTI, over the past fortnight the Cockroach Janta Party and the INDIA opposition bloc have held separate protests in the capital and other parts of the country, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of the rolls. The agency said there is no direct link between the two groups' demonstrations. Gandhi had earlier condemned the arrest of leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party.

The Election Commission has not been quoted in the reports on the speech. The NDTV World Summit continues in New Delhi on Friday, and the opposition protesters are still demanding the removal of the chief election commissioner.