Rajya Sabha: Kharge criticises NDA govt for paper leaks, bridges cave-ins and terror attack in J&K

NEW DELHI: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday took a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the last 10 years of his rule was just a trailer and ‘picture abhi baaki hai’, saying the third term of NDA has seen exam paper leaks, terror attack in J&K, train accident, airport canopy collapse, bridges cave-ins and toll tax hike.

The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha also criticised the Prime Minister for his poll speeches and also levelled allegations against the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor RSS, but most of his remarks were expunged by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Rajya Sabha, he listed out many recent incidents to sharply criticise the NDA government. Kharge pointed out that there have been exam paper leaks, cancellation of many examinations, train accidents, three terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir, leakages in Ram temple, the collapse of canopy at three airports, an increase in toll taxes and depreciation of the rupee.

Kharge said the future of 30 lakh students has been affected due to recent paper leaks.

“If this keeps happening, students will stop their studies,” he said. In the last seven years, there have been paper leaks 70 times, Kharge said, adding that this has affected the future of two crore students. He said that the government was not doing anything on this matter and blamed Opposition parties for raising the issue in Parliament.

He asked the government to improve the examination system in the country and demanded that the investigation be held under the watch of the Supreme Court.

Expressing dismay at the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament last week, he said the speech did not make any mention of the Manipur situation. Kharge said the PM did not visit Manipur, which has been burning since the last one year.

While expunging Kharge’s remarks on RSS, Dhankhar also defended the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling it an organisation engaged in working for the nation.

In his nearly 90-minute speech, which also saw several disruptions by the treasury benches and intervention by the Chair, Kharge repeatedly referred to the RSS and personalities associated with it.

The Chairman said the comments on RSS stood expunged as it was not fair to level allegations against an organisation engaged in nationalistic activities.

“Is it a crime to be a member of an organisation? You are saying a particular person is a member of the RSS, is that in itself a crime? The RSS is an organisation working for the nation. They have a lot of intelligent people,” Dhankhar added.

Leader of the House and BJP president J P Nadda too objected to the remarks made by Kharge. He said the Congress leader had no knowledge about the RSS and whatever Kharge was saying about the organisation was regrettable.

Congress President also raised the issue of relocation of statues of prominent personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi and Chhatrapati Shivaji from the Parliament premises.