Digital Desk: Opposition parties said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "misused" Parliament for giving campaign speech and undermined the dignity of his office and the two Houses by delivering "political" statements with an eye on the Assembly elections in five states while responding to the debate on the President's Address. Modi talked as a BJP leader on "campaign," not as Prime Minister, according to the majority of opposition leaders.
The Prime Minister targeted the Congress in back-to-back speeches in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Monday and Tuesday, citing previous instances to argue that the main opposition party has no political or moral right to question him and his government on issues such as federalism, freedom of speech, and Covid management.
While the Congress was enraged by the Prime Minister's address; and the way he "misused" Parliament according to them, many other parties, including the CPI(M), which had previously been subjected to "highhandedness" by Congress governments, were also unimpressed. In fact, the Prime Minister was chastised by the Left.
On Tuesday, the prime minister spoke in the Rajya Sabha about how Congress governments at the center had rejected opposition state governments, including Kerala's first elected Communist government in 1959.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, stated that the debate in Parliament was not about the Congress, its history, or its governance record. "The topic of discussion was the President's Address. What his government has done and plans to do. Instead, he decided to go after Congress. Because five states are holding elections. He also gave a campaign address," he added.
"We had raised several issues in both the Houses – be it on economy, unemployment, inflation, Covid management, Chinese aggression, achievement of various government schemes like the one on housing. He did not reply to any of those. He did not give any data. Instead, he focused on Nehru taunted him. If you wanted to say all these, you should have gone to the five election-bound states and spoken there. You are standing in Parliament…people are keen to know what the government plans to do for them." Kharge said.
He claimed that the Prime Minister attempted to blame his government's failure on Covid management and opposing governments. "He blamed state administrations for the migrant worker exodus. Who was in charge of the Shramik express trains? The government told Parliament that 4,621 Shramik special trains had been run, transporting 63.19 lakh people. And who did the most transporting? Gujarat is your home state. Gujarat had the most trains departing, at 1,033. Was Modi sent people to disseminate Covid? "From Maharashtra, just 817 trains went," he said.
Most opposition leaders stated that a Prime Minister should not have given such a "political" statement during the President's Address.
"It was a campaign speech. The Prime Minister of the country was not speaking. It was BJP leader Modi speaking. The Prime Minister misused Parliament to give a campaign speech…for instance he spoke about Goa's liberation today. What was the need," Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express.
Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray agreed. "He went out of the way to attack the opposition on flimsy grounds. We had raised several specific issues related to hunger index, poverty index, development index, economic inequality, the alarming economic situation etc etc. I myself had raised those issues quoting facts and figures when I spoke. The Prime Minister did not deny any of those figures, which means he has accepted that."
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