Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took the Congress head-on for ‘obstructing’ key Bills, such as those on waterways, whistleblower protection, and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but skirted issues, such as Rohith Vemula’s suicide, JNU and black money, which were raised vociferously by Rahul Gandhi a day earlier.
“You keep saying it’s ours, it’s ours. It’s yours (Bills) only, so why are these being obstructed?” he said, questioning if this was due to “inferiority” complex, as his government had been performing well, be it on devolution to the States, building toilets, clearing road projects, and so forth.
Modi was replying to a discussion in Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament. After a scathing attack on a peeved Congress, Modi softened his tone as he ended his speech, and sought the cooperation from an “experienced” Opposition to tackle the bureaucracy, which he said needed to be made accountable.
For accountability
“Accountability of the bureaucracy is getting eroded. We are at least answerable to the people, but what about the bureaucracy?” he asked, adding that officialdom was enjoying the “tu tu, main main” (blame game) between political parties, while the people were suffering.
“I am new; you are experienced. I need the benefit of your experience. Governments will come and go. Let us work shoulder to shoulder,” Modi said, adding that the “fate of 125 crore people cannot be left in the hands of the bureaucracy”.
A major part of Modi’s 75-minute speech, however, dwelt on criticising the Congress and taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi for “making fun” of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, as also questioning his maturity in not “respecting elders” by citing the instance of how he had torn an Ordinance approved by the Manmohan Singh cabinet, at a press conference.
Congress hits back
The Congress reacted sharply to Modi’s criticism of their ‘obstruction’. “Why didn’t the PM say that for six years he opposed the GST,” said Congress leader Anand Sharma, wishing that Modi would have done well to have given the same advice to his party leaders a few years ago. Sharma also said that it was “sad” that Modi did not talk about any of the issues raised by the Opposition.
“The PM was silent on what happened in HCU and JNU. He was silent on the fact that his HRD Minister lied to both Houses of Parliament. He did not mention the Naga accord, the violence in Haryana, and he did not mention nor take action against his Minister who made hate speeches in Uttar Pradesh,” Congress said in its official Twitter handle.