Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at Congress and Rahul Gandhi in his replies to the Motions of Thanks, both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. While in the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday, the opposition MPs continuously shouted slogans during his 135-minute long reply, they staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha while Modi was replying. In the Lok Sabha, the Congress and other opposition parties tried to their best to stop Modi from speaking, but the Prime Minister went on with his speech amidst the din created by slogan shouting members. Modi said, after the last month’s general elections, the Congress will be termed as a ‘parasite’, because it won only 99 seats in Lok Sabha with the help of vote share of its allies. The 2024 elections, he said, marked the third consecutive defeat of Congress in Lok Sabha elections, and it failed to breach the 100 mark. Instead of taking lessons from the election results, Modi said, “Congress is trying to tell the people that they have defeated us. This is just like pacifying a child who failed in his exam”. The Prime Minister remarked that the government would not tolerate any more “dramas” and the “opposition and its eco-system will be replied in their own language”.
Modi, in his speech, did not name Rahul Gandhi, who was sitting in the Leader of Opposition seat, surrounded by his party MPs shouting slogans. The Prime Minister said, “the opposition leader is behaving childishly (baalak-buddhi), in the false belief that he has scored 99 per cent, but in reality, his party has won only 99 out of a total of 543 seats in Lok Sabha”. During his speech, Modi even offered a glass of water to opposition MPs shouting slogans in the well, in front of his seat. Modi hit out at Rahul Gandhi for his remarks about Hindus, and said: “It was said that Hindus are violent. Are these your values? Is this your character? Is it not your hatred towards Hindus of this nation? This country will never forget this for centuries to come…. These people (Congress) coined the phrase ‘saffron terrorism’. One of their allies compared Hinduism with dengue, malaria, and these people clapped. Their entire eco-system wants to abuse and insult Hinduism. Now Hindus will have to think. Is this insult a coincidence or part of a design?”.
Modi alleged that the opposition did not even spare the armed forces by spreading falsehood about Agniveer. “Since defence is a sensitive issue, I had been silent, but I had to speak out to expose their falsehood”, Modi said. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla named Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and said, it was he who was asking his party MPs to go to the well of the House and shout slogans. The most significant part of Modi’s speech in the Lok Sabha was that opposition MPs continuously harangued him and shouted slogans throughout his speech. They were clapping and shouting ‘Manipur, Manipur, We Want Justice’, but Modi did not waver for even a minute. He continued non-stop with his reply. What the opposition MPs did was an insult to parliamentary traditions. To prevent the Leader of House from speaking is unparliamentary.
The Speaker recalled how Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was allowed to speak for 90 minutes on Monday without any pandemonium and the ruling party benches heard his speech with rapt attention. But when Modi spoke, the opposition had come prepared to prevent him from speaking by shouting full-throated slogans. Viewers were surprised to find the Prime Minister carrying on with his speech, unwaveringly, amidst the din. Modi listed out the achievements of his government and attacked the opposition. He pointed out the lies spread during the election campaign. One interesting point is that the pro-Congress eco-system started spreading lies soon after the PM’s speech was over. In his speech, Modi had said that “today we are trying to overtake our own speed that we had achieved in the last 10 years. Now our competition is against our own speed,” he said. But the Congress went on social media and described ‘muqaabla’ as ‘munh-kaala’. Modi also took a dig at the allies of Congress and said “Congress is like a parasite that feeds on the body it inhabits. Congress has consumed the vote shares of its allies”. Modi’s speech is a clear indicator of the politics that is going to unfold in the coming months. He said, “neither I am going to be afraid, nor will I stop targeting my rivals”. Modi’s style hasn’t changed, his aggressive approach continues and we may see more of it in the coming days.
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