With CAA, 370 volleys, Modi takes aim at Oppn

PARLIAMENT Says Cong on wrong path over citizenship law, J&K getting benefits

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Opposition, blaming the Congress and the Left parties for hiding behind the Constitution to encourage those who were violating it, reading out quotes from three former Jammu & Kashmir chief ministers to justify their preventive detentions, terming the anticaa protests as anarchic, and staunchly defending the changed citizenship law by highlighting the plight of minorities in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister, at the same time, called for the ongoing Parliament session to be “dedicated” to the economy while saying that its fundamentals – from fiscal deficit targets to manageable inflation to macroeconomic stability – were strong.

Modi also spoke in the Rajya Sabha later -- the first time he addressed both houses of Parliament in the same day -- focussing more deeply on the economy and bringing in the National Population Register (NPR) into the discussion by asking Opposition leaders not to “mislead” people by “lying” about what he called a “regulation administrative process”.

In a fiery Lok Sabha speech often interrupted by objections and interjections from the Opposition benches, Modi, in his reply to the Motion of Thanks by President Ram Nath Kovind, said: “The people who are trying to lecture us to save

the Constitution, need to repeat their own words to themselves. These are the same people who imposed the Emergency, tried to take judicial rights away from the Supreme Court, tried to end the right to life, made the most changes in the Constitution, dismissed state governments dozens of times, tore Cabinet decisions in press conferences, and put up a remote control above the prime minister and the PMO.”

Linking that with ongoing agitations in several parts of the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, Modi said that it was these same people who were standing next

to those who wanted to divide the country (“tukde-tukde”), and were encouraging people through lies and speeches to undermine democratic decisions. “Can the path of anarchy run the nation?” Modi asked.

The speech was broken into eight distinct parts: Modi first addressed questions raised by members about the hurry with which the government was bringing in major legislations in this term; he then spoke about integrating the North-east and held the recent Bodo peace accord as an example; spoke on measures to boost the farm sector; called for a constructive debate on the economy, which,

he said, was ploughed and ready to seed; criticised “disruptive and violent” protests while citing the Constitution; castigated those who slammed the nullification of special provisions for J&K; offered a treatise on why CAA was necessary, including quotes from Jawaharlal Nehru and past Hindu legislators in the Pakistan parliament; and finally called on fellow parliamentarians to come together to work for development rather than division.

“Instead of this, come, let’s sit together and run the country. Let’s take India on the path to becoming a $5 trillion economy,” he said.