Modi slams Oppn for ‘insulting’ Parliament
LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the Opposition for stalling Parliament proceedings and accused them of insulting the House for “their self-interests”.
The PM’s remarks come against the backdrop of the opposition parties protesting in both Houses and disrupting listed business since the monsoon session began on July 19.
The Opposition , including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has demanded a discussion and a reply from the PM or home minister Amit Shah on the potential use of Pegasus spyware against politicians, journalists, activists and judicial officials.
“Some people want to stop the country’s growth by not letting Parliament run smoothly. However, these people don’t know that the country has set about on an irreversible path of development and progress,” the PM said while interacting with the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), a food security welfare scheme, in Uttar Pradesh via video conferencing.
Modi termed the repeated disruptions “anti-national”.
“The great people of this country cannot become hostage to such selfish and anti-national politics... They are engaged in stopping the proceedings of Parliament but 130 crore ( 1.3 billion) people are engaged in not allowing them to stop the country... They [Opposition] are continuously insulting Parliament for their self-interests” he said.
Taking a jibe at the Opposition, Modi also said while the country celebrates Hockey goals, few are busy scoring “self-goals”. “On one hand, our country is scoring goal after goal of victory, on the other, some people, due to political selfinterests, are doing such things which make it seem that they are scoring ‘self-goals’.”
This is the second time in three days that Modi has condemned the Opposition for disrupting Parliament. At a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) parliamentary party on Tuesday, Modi said the Opposition was insulting “democracy, constitution, Parliament and the people” by disrupting both Houses and asked BJP MPs to display restraint so that the dignity of Parliament is maintained.
During the interaction on Thursday, the PM also accused previous governments of exploiting Uttar Pradesh, which goes to polls next year, for political gains. “People always knew and said that the road to power at Delhi passes through Uttar Pradesh but earlier none thought it fit to think that the state could also fuel the country’s growth. UP’s identity that was earlier limited to politics, is changing now as big ticket infra projects, industries and investments have started coming.”
Praising the Yogi Adityanath government, Modi said: “Under Yogi ji, UP’s image is changing. The common man, the poor aren’t scared anymore. They are confident that the government is with them.”