The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha on July 3 as it alleged that the Leader of Opposition in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, was not allowed to intervene during the Prime Minister’s reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
“We staged a walkout because the Prime Minister, while replying to the debate on the President’s Address, gave some wrong information... It is his habit to tell lies, mislead people and speak against the truth,” Mr. Kharge said, after walking out during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech.
Accusing Mr. Modi of giving wrong information in the House, Mr. Kharge said the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was “anti-Constitution”.
Mr. Kharge quoted a November 30, 1950 article from RSS publication Organiser to argue that the organisation had opposed the Constitution saying it does not have anything Indian.
“They had opposed and rejected the Constitution and now, they are talking about protecting it. They have been anti-Constitution since the beginning,” he said.
Congress leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and P. Chidambaram, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Tiruchi Siva, Trinamool Congress’s Sagarika Ghose and Sushmita Dev, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) Mahua Maji, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Manoj Jha, and Shiv Sena-UBT’s Priyanka Chaturvedi were among those who rallied behind Mr. Kharge.
Ms. Dev said the BJP has shown disrespect to the constitutional post of the Leader of Opposition. “A saga of lies in the address of the Prime Minister in Rajya Sabha. The Opposition cannot be expected to sit through such a speech without a single opportunity to intervene,” she said in a post on X.
The Congress also reacted to Mr. Modi’s comments on Manipur during his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
“Today in the Rajya Sabha, after months of absolute silence on the issue, the non-biological PM made the astounding claim that the situation in Manipur is normal. In actuality, the situation is still tense as the MP from Inner Manipur pointed out in the Lok Sabha on 1st July,” Congress Çhief Whip in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh, said.
“And the non-biological Pradhan Mantri has still not visited Manipur since it erupted on the night of May 3rd, 2023 - nor has he met with the political leaders of the state. The President’s Address too was silent on the issue,” Mr. Ramesh added.
The Congress leader also responded to Mr. Modi’s remarks in the Rajya Sabha that since the results came out, one Congress leader kept on beating the drum that there is a “one-third government” in place.
“What can be a bigger truth than this? We have completed 10 years, 20 more are left. One-third is done, two-thirds are left. So we are very happy for this prediction,” Mr. Modi had said in the House.
Mr. Ramesh, who had been referring to the Prime Minister as “one-third PM”, said, “As always, the ‘one-third’ Pradhan Mantri is distorting. The label of ‘ek tihai (one-third)‘ does not refer to his government’s tenure. It refers to our very own non-biological PM.”
“After the resounding personal, political, and moral defeat of June 4th, it is his legitimacy and aura that has been diminished to one-third - and he himself is dependent on two other Ns for his political survival. His Government is anyways on its last legs and can fall anytime,” he added, with the two Ns referring to Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Published - July 03, 2024 03:55 pm IST
