The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Congress party’s president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint session of Parliament neither had a vision nor offered a direction to the people, and only endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The President’s speech was only about praising Prime Minister Modi and their government. It was a propaganda advertisement for PM Modi, and a political speech,” Mr. Kharge told reporters at his office in the Parliament.
“Maybe the President was directed to speak in such a way that she followed in her one hour and 20 minutes long speech,” the Congress chief added.
Mr. Kharge said the speech did not address how the Union government planned to reduce the prices of essential commodities to provide relief to the citizens, and did not address the pressing need for job creation.
“The truth is that we are losing our lands to China but we are not putting up a fight,” the Congress leader said, speaking of the President’s reference to the Armed Forces in her speech.
Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, and Rajya Sabha member Shaktisinh Gohil, pointed out that the President’s address, prepared by the government, did not mention the promises that were made by Mr. Modi in the run-up to the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha election, which included depositing ₹15 lakh in every bank account, generating two crore jobs every year, doubling farm income, and so on.
Mr. Gogoi said the country expected the President to take note of the suspension of 146 MPs only because they were demanding their rights. “There was no concern shown in the address as to how democracy is being trampled in the country,” he said.
Separately, in a statement, Mr. Kharge responded to Mr. Modi’s comment on Opposition parties disrupting the proceedings of Parliament, and said that it was the BJP that indulged in the “disrobing” of Parliament. Mr. Kharge said data from the past two decades showed that the most interruptions in Parliament had occurred during the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-2014), when the BJP was the principal Opposition party.
“So, it is the BJP which has indulged in the cheerharan (disrobing) of Parliament, and not the Opposition. Democracy is in danger, courtesy the BJP,” he alleged.
The Congress chief alleged that the “autocratic” BJP government had passed as many as 14 Bills in three days, after suspending 146 MPs from both the Houses.
“The current Lok Sabha will finish its five-year term without a Deputy Speaker, a position conventionally reserved for an Opposition member. This shows how an autocratic Modi government is violating the Constitution and strangulating the voice of the Opposition,” Mr. Kharge said.
