Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Opposition in the Parliament saying Congress ruled UPA turned every opportunity into trouble for India. He said that the ten years of UPA rule “bled the country dry”.
“2004 to 2014 was the decade of scams and violence. UPA turned every opportunity into trouble. When the era of Tech and Information was growing rapidly, they were stuck in 2G. When there was talk of Civil Nuclear Deal, they remained stuck in Cash for Vote. When the Commonwealth Games took place, the whole country became infamous in the CWG scam,” said Prime Minister Replying to the motion of thanks to the President’s address in parliament
A day after Gandhi took potshots at the Government on the Adani-Hinderburg issue, the Prime Minister took a jibe at the Congress leader’s Bharat Jodo Yatra that culminated in Jammu and Kashmir amid much fanfare. “In the last century, I also went on a pilgrimage to Kashmir and the terrorists had put up posters daring people to hoist the Tricolor at Lal Chowk. I had announced on 23rd January that year that I will come on 26th January, without security and bullet proof jacket and will hoist the tricolor…and now those who have recently visited Jammu and Kashmir can also see how proudly they can roam around,” he said.
In another sharp remark, the Prime Minister ridiculed the Congress’ ‘obsession with Harvard’. “Some people here have a big craze for Harvard study. During the Corona period, the Congress had said that there would be a study in Harvard on the destruction of India. A very good study has been done in Harvard in the past years, its topic is ‘The Rise and Decline of India’s Congress Party.”
The Prime Minister said that the Opposition came together because they were all equally scared of ED probe. “The opposition parties should thank ED that the investigative agency has brought them together.”
The Prime Minister also added that while constructive criticism was a necessity in a democracy the Opposition only engaged in negative criticism. “Nowadays opposition is busy accusing ECI and blaming EVMs for electoral losses. The Supreme court is criticized if they lose case,” he said.
Earlier, the Parliament witnessed a logjam over the Adani-Hindenburg issue as opposition demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the allegations levelled by the US-based short seller firm Hindenburg Research on Adani Group.
Rajya Sabha suspended the Zero Hour as well as the Question Hour to resume debate on Motion of Thanks. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shiv Sena Thackeray faction, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha after Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected adjournment notices by BRS member K Keshava Rao, AAP member Sanjay Singh, and Shiv Sena members Sanjay Raut and Priyanka Chaturvedi.
On Tuesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Adani issue. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on January 8 expunged several remarks made by the MP from Wayanad.
According to the list, in all, 18 remarks that Rahul Gandhi made during his speech were removed from the records.
Responding to a query by The New Indian regarding the expunging of his speech in the Lower House of Parliament, Gandhi said, “Why were my words expunged?”
He then went ahead to enter the Parliament building and then again came back and said, “No, I am asking why my words were expunged?”
Even Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dubbed the expunging of words from Gandhi’s speech as the cremation of democracy in Lok Sabha.