PM distracting people, silent on jobs, slowdown: Congress
BUDGET SESSION Oppn alleges that govt has created an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear; demands apology for comment on Nehru
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday criticised the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government over the state of the economy and unemployment rate in the country, even as it accused the Centre of spreading communalism and distracting people from key issues.
The remarks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking in Parliament, said opposition parties were trying to “misguide and misinform” the nation on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. He asked if the first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, could be described as “communal” for seeking citizenship for religious minorities from Pakistan.
Responding to the allegations, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the PM was attempting to “distract” the people by talking about the Congress, Nehru and Pakistan, while remaining silent on the real issue of unemployment. Coming out of the Lower House, where Modi took digs at him and the Congress, Gandhi said both the Prime Minister and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave long speeches in Parliament but failed to reply on how the government intended to provide jobs to the youth.
“All youngsters want employment after studying in schools, colleges and universities. We asked the Prime Minister repeatedly that you have given a oneand-a-half-hour speech and for two minutes you can tell the youth about employment and what your government has done about it,” Gandhi told reporters at the Parliament House complex. “Youngsters saw that the Prime Minister could not give a reply,” he added.
In the Rajya Sabha, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the government had wrecked the economy and created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in the country. Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, he said the government didn’t believe in building consensus and took a confrontationist approach. He said the government didn’t consult states before coming out with CAA that allowed citizenship to non-Muslims from the three neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Gandhi said that while the government would earlier talk about the economy, Make in India, and the $5-trillion target, the Prime Minister stopped talking about the biggest issues facing the country, and was distracting people. “His style is of distracting the country... He had said two crore jobs will be given to youngsters, but five and a half years have passed. Last year, one crore youth lost jobs, he is unable to say a word.”
Modi’s reply in the Lok Sabha to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address also saw the PM taking frequent pot shots at Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, who tried to disrupt him his address.
Addressing a news briefing later, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari described Modi’s speech as one that oscillated between “stand-up comedy” and “rank communalism”. Tewari demanded that the PM apologise for “misleading” the country by quoting Nehru “out of context”. It was unfortunate that the PM made a reference to Pakistan seven times during his address and accused him of hyphenating India with Pakistan, he said.
Tewari also accused Modi of destroying the Indian economy and said he was covering up the government’s wrongs with the help of polarisation. “It is extremely unfortunate and deeply regrettable that the PM’s comments oscillated between stand-up comedy, half truths and rank communalism. It is regrettable that the PM should quote one of his illustrious predecessors Jawaharlal Nehru completely out of context,” he said.
“The PM should apologise to the country for quoting an agreement signed with another country completely out of context... ,” he said.