Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not showing “red eyes” to the Chinese “when China is snatching our land and building houses”.
Mr. Kharge, who was speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Upper House, made the remarks while pointing towards Mr. Modi who was present there. The Prime Minister remained in the House for more than an hour till Mr. Kharge completed his address.
“China is snatching our land, building houses. Why aren’t your eyes red now? You asked us to show red eyes to China. You don’t talk about China at all. You are silent,” Mr. Kharge said while recalling a speech made by Mr. Modi in 2013 in relation to Chinese aggression.
He added that “your love for China” can be understood from the fact that the import of Chinese goods in 2021 has increased four times that in 2013.
He said the President’s speech is a policy document, but it neither had policy nor vision. “You say nothing happened in the past 70 years, if nothing had happened in the past 70 years, you wouldn’t be alive today, we have democracy so that you could govern today. Anyone who speaks against the government is an anti-national,” he said.
He urged the Prime Minister to sack Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra ‘Teni’ whose son was accused of mowing down farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh last year.
“Doubling of farmers income did not find mention in President’s Address. You never paid any compensation to farmers who lost lives during agitation. You called them mawaali (ruffian), aatankawadi (terrorist). A Minister’s son killed four farmers. You should sack the Home Minister (MoS Home Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni), he could influence probe. You are known to take quick actions but you didn’t sack him, may be due to U.P. elections. Insurance companies profited from crop insurance schemes,” he said.
He added that public-sector companies were being sold off and this was also leading to end of reservation for SC/ST and OBCs in government jobs.
“Whenever the Opposition raises its voice, you say religion is under danger. You said in 2014 that you will give 2 crore jobs every year, so by now you should have given 15 crore jobs. Yesterday’s budget speech said 60 lakh jobs in the next five years. More than 2 crore people are unemployed today. In Bihar and U.P, youth came on the road for jobs. Government of India has 9 lakh vacancies, 15% in Railways, Home 12%, Defence 40%... there is no place for Scheduled Castes, you will not find any SC secretary or deputy secretary,” he said.
He added that 60% MSME units are shut. “When we brought MGNREGA, Modi saab used to say this is a live example of our unsuccessful policies. During COVID, this MGNREGA served as a lifeline for workers who lost jobs. 1.80 lakh crore should have been allotted to MGNREGA, but you have kept only Rs. 73,000 crore for the scheme. You only gave 20 days jobs to 7 crore unemployed people, against the 150 days promised during COVID. Price rise is at a 12-year-high,” he said.
Mr. Kharge spoke for 66 minutes and when he was reminded by Deputy Chairperson Harivansh that he was well-past his allotted time and could curtail the time meant for other members of the party, Mr. Kharge said, “I determine the time allotted for my party.” Mr. Harivansh said that the time for other Congress members will be cut-short then.
The 109 minutes for Congress party was allotted in such a way that other than Mr. Kharge, Anand Sharma, Ripun Bora and Chayya Verma were to speak. A source said that Mr. Kharge was allotted 30 minutes to speak and Mr. Sharma, who is deputy leader of the party in the House was allotted 25 minutes. A source said that an upset Mr. Sharma may not speak on the Motion of Thanks at all when the discussion continues on Thursday.
Mr. Kharge signed off by reciting a couplet by late Rahat Indori, “Apne haakim ki fakeeri par taras aata hai, jo gareebon se paseene ki kamaai maange, zubaan to khol, nazar to mila, jawab to do, main kitni baar luta hoon, iska hisaab to do (I pity the mental poverty of my ruler, who asks for the sweat of the labour of the poor. Speak up, look me in the eye, give me an accounting of how many times I have been looted).”
Two BJP MPs from election-bound States, Geeta alias Chandraprabha from Uttar Pradesh and Shwait Malik from Punjab, moved and seconded the Motion of Thanks to the President respectively. Ms. Geeta, became the first woman MP to move the Motion of Thanks in 10 years, with the last one being Renuka Chowdhary in 2013, as well as the first woman MP fielded by the BJP to do so since 2014, according to sources.
While moving the motion, Ms. Geeta thanked Mr. Modi for various schemes of the government, including construction of toilets in rural areas and distribution of gas cylinders under the Ujjwala Yojana scheme, and cited initiatives of the Yogi Adityanath-led State government in Uttar Pradesh as well. Ms. Geeta said the government had started the Ujjwala scheme from the Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh, which was considered backward. She said the government had started strengthening medical infrastructure in the country before the COVID-19 pandemic, after coming to power in 2014. She said Uttar Pradesh was the at the top of the list of vaccine doses administered in the country with 20 crore.
While seconding the motion, Mr. Malik hit out against the Congress, accusing it of “scams of ₹12 lakh crore” during its tenure. Citing steps taken by the government in Jammu and Kashmir, he said Mr. Modi had “made Kashmir heaven on earth”. He said the surgical strike across the Line of Control, the construction of the Kartarpur corridor and ongoing construction of the Ram temple were all under the leadership of Mr. Modi. Speaking of Punjab, Mr. Malik said many people had been black-listed from returning to India for years, but the Modi government had removed 312 Sikhs from the black list.
Tiruchi Siva, DMK MP, said the government was ignoring farmers. “The country was an agrarian economy, but now it is becoming a corporate economy,” he said. He added that the BJP was against regional languages, adding that the Centre was imposing Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States.
