Leader Of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge speaks in the House as Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar looks on during the ongoing Parliament session, in New Delhi on Monday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha targeted the management of economy, price rise and continuing attacks on minorities during their speeches on July 1 on the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to a joint sitting of Parliament. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs, on the other hand, countered this by saying that people reiterated their faith on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by electing the NDA again.
After a speech made by Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool Congress MP Jawhar Sircar continued the attack against the Union government and said inequality has increased in the last 10 years. He said only a few big businessmen were “nourished under the NDA” and the poor became more poor during this time. He further said the Centre owes more than ₹1 lakh crore to West Bengal and resources are not being distributed equally among States by the Centre. He also demanded that the Centre stop the implementation of new criminal laws as they were passed by Parliament without proper discussion when more than 150 MPs were under suspension.
YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) newly sworn-in MP Meda Raghunatha Reddy welcomed the President’s speech and urged the Centre to intervene to stop the alleged attacks against his party’s cadre in Andhra Pradesh. He asked the Centre to provide Special Stratus for the State.
Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Binoy Viswam said the BJP-led government works with an “upper caste” mindset and Dalits, Adivasis and downtrodden communities have no place under this government.
In his speech, senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Tiruchi Siva said the people have given a clear verdict and the government cannot bulldoze Bills in the Parliament as they were doing earlier. He alleged that the election results caused a loss of around ₹30 lakh crore and it was a “very big economic scam”. He said a stock market fluctuation was created artificially and people had invested in the share market following the statements of “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah predicting a new high” after June 4. “All small investors were tempted to buy because of the exit poll survey and the Prime Minister. Is it the way… Is it the responsibility of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to talk about shares,” he asked.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh said the NDA government is indulging in “politics of vendetta”. He said whatever the Centre was doing with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not benefit the BJP. “We will not bow down before you even if you cut us into 100 pieces,” he said. He demanded an investigation into the electoral bond issue. “You are exposed in electoral bond issue. All those firms that bought electoral bonds were given contracts worth ₹3.02 lakh crore,” he added.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel defended the government and said corruption has decreased in the last 10 years and the NDA government was favouring the States. He said the NDA government had not used Article 356 to dissolve State Assemblies in the last 10 years.
