‘Arrogance Remains’: Kharge responds to PM’s emergency remark
NEW DELHI: Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address ahead of the new Parliament session, the Congress on Monday accused him of being arrogant despite “moral and political defeat.’’
In a longish post on X, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that PM Modi failed to address crucial issues such as the NEET paper leak, corruption in recruitment examinations, the recent train accident in West Bengal and the ongoing violence in Manipur in his pre-session address.
“Be it the floods in Assam and the Northeast, the backbreaking Price Rise, the historic fall of the Rupee, or be it the Exit Poll-Stock Market scam, Modi ji is mum.
“Modi government has kept the next census pending for a long time, PM Modi was completely silent even on the caste census,” Kharge said.
PM Modi had nothing new to offer in his remarks ahead of the start of the 18th Lok Sabha and “as usual resorted to diversion” and that he has forgotten that the last 10 years of “undeclared emergency” was ended by the people, the Congress chief said.
Kharge said that PM Modi made a longer than usual customary address “but clearly, even after the moral and political defeat, the arrogance remains”. He said the nation was hoping that Modi would say something on important issues.
“Narendra Modi ji, you are giving advice to the Opposition. You are reminding us of the 50-year-old Emergency, but have forgotten the last 10 years of Undeclared Emergency, which was ended by the people,” he said in his post.
“People have given their mandate against Modi ji. Despite this, if he has become the Prime Minister, then he should work,” Kharge added.
Recalling the Prime Minister’s words that “people need substance, not slogans”, Kharge said he should remind himself of this.
“The Opposition and INDIA Janbandhan want Consensus in Parliament, we will keep raising the voice of the people in the House, on the streets and before everyone. We will protect the Constitution,” the Congress chief said.
In his customary remarks ahead of the start of the 18th Lok Sabha, Modi said India needs a responsible Opposition as people want substance, not slogans. He said people want debate, diligence and not disturbance in Parliament.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also said the Prime Minister has shown no evidence that he understood the true meaning of the people’s verdict “which saw him eking out only a narrow and dubious win in Varanasi”.
“The non-biological PM who suffered a resounding personal, political, and moral defeat in the Lok Sabha elections has just given his usual ‘desh ke naam sandesh’ outside the Parliament as the 18th Lok Sabha prepares to commence its tenure He has said nothing new and as usual resorted to diversion,” he said on ‘X’.
“Let him be under no doubt: the INDIA Janbandhan will hold him to account for every minute. He stands brutally exposed,” Ramesh added.
As the new session of Parliament began, in a show of strength, the Opposition INDIA bloc members waved copies of the Constitution in Parliament as PM Modi took oath as a member of the 18th Lok Sabha.
Home Minister Amit Shah was also greeted in a similar manner. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took oath as Lok Sabha member amid chants of NEET-NET by the Opposition members as a controversy is raging on the entrance examinations that has put the government in the dock.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool leader Kalyan Banerjee, and Samajwadi Party leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Awadhesh Prasad, SP MP from Faizabad, were seated in the first row in the Opposition benches.
Congress member Kodikunnil Suresh, DMK’s T R Baalu and Trinamool Congress’ member Sudip Bandyopadhyay walked out of the House when the oath-taking began as a mark of protest over the appointment of B. Mahtab of BJP as Pro-tem Speaker.
The three Opposition members were named on the panel of chairpersons to assist the pro-tem Speaker. The panel of chairpersons was administered oath immediately after PM Modi who is the leader of the 18th Lok Sabha.
With Suresh, Baalu and Bandyopadhyay choosing to remain absent, the other two members named on the panel -- BJP Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste were administered oath after the Prime Minister.
The Opposition members were heard raising the slogan “violation of Constitution” when the panel was sworn in. First term MP from Delhi Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of BJP stalwart late Sushma Swaraj, was among the early entrants to the Lok Sabha chamber. She mingled with the fellow members, exchanging greetings and clicking photographs.
Members of the TDP, a key ally of the BJP, sported yellow scarves while the Samajwadi Party members walked in the Lok Sabha chamber wearing red caps and waved copies of the Hindi version of the Constitution.
Earlier, INDIA bloc MPs gathered in the Parliament complex for a show of strength as they marched to the Lok Sabha together on the first day of the opening session, raising slogans to “save Constitution”.
Opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress’ Sudip Bandyopadhyay, DMK’s TR Baalu, assembled at the spot where the Gandhi statue once stood in the Parliament complex. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi also joined the MPs. Holding copies of the Constitution in their hands, they raised slogans such as “long live Constitution”, “we will save the Constitution”, “save our democracy”.
The Gandhi statue, which was a popular protest site for MPs, was recently relocated along with 14 other statues to a new spot named Prerna Sthal. The Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected on June 26 and President Droupadi Murmu’s address to a joint sitting of both the Houses is scheduled for June 27. The debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address will begin on June 28. The Prime Minister is expected to respond to the debate on July 2 or 3.
