New Delhi: Members from Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha on Monday accused the government of fomenting communal division amid rising economic disparities, saying the Centre needs a reality check on its claim of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’.
Participating in the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in the Upper House, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh dubbed the government as “anti-poor and anti-farmer”, and Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose claimed that it was in “denial of the present-day reality”.
DMK MP Tiruchi Siva alleged that Parliamentary democracy norms are being flouted, Bills are being bulldozed, and the voices of Opposition parties are being strangled.
Congress leader Singh also mentioned Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on China occupying Indian territory made in the Lok Sabha, urging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must reply to the issue.
Singh observed that there was a discussion in the Lok Sabha about how China has occupied 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory.
If Leader of the Opposition (in the Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi mentioned this there (in the Lok Sabha), then it is necessary for the Prime Minister to respond to it, the Congress leader said.
He (PM) should also respond to whatever Major General Manoj Mukul Naravane has said, Singh stated.
A row erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi sought to quote from the “memoir” of former Army chief MM Naravane on the 2020 India-China conflict.
He said while the Centre claims ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, ground reality reflects otherwise, claiming that minorities and backward classes were left out of the developmental agenda.
“The D Grade government is in denial of the problem, practices distraction and uses division as a political strategy,” Trinamool Congress MP Ghose said,
targeting the Centre, claiming “there is no Sabka Saath, there is no Sabka Vikas in today’s India”.
In remarks apparently referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Ghose said, “None other than the Chief Minister of a BJP-ruled state has called for the economic apartheid of a particular community and referred to them as Miyas”.
She said the Enforcement Directorate raided the Trinamool Congress’ office before the Assembly Elections, accusing the agency of selectively targeting the ruling party in West Bengal.