New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi taunted the Congress, saying it cannot be so ‘arrogant’ to believe that the Land Bill passed by it is the best.
Responding point-by-point to issues raised by the Opposition, the Prime Minister took pot shots at the Congress repeatedly while referring to corruption, black money, and the MNREGA scheme and coal block allocations. Modi was particularly severe on the Congress on its pet scheme, MNREGS, calling it a ‘living monument’ of poverty in the country even 60 years after independence.
“Do you think I will put an end to the scheme? My political wisdom does not allow me to do it. This is a living monument of your failure to tackle poverty in 60 years. With song and dance and drum beat I will continue with the scheme,” he said amidst thumping of desks by the ruling benches and consternation among Congress members.
During the debate, the Congress members had accused the Modi government of not implementing the MNREGS. At the end of his speech, Leader of the Congress Mallikarjun Kharge accused Mr Modi of making “fun” of a programme for the poor and said poverty still reigned supreme in Gujarat despite Modi heading that government for so many years.
The House adopted the motion of thanks to the President’s address, rejecting a Trinamul Congress member’s amendment in a division with 51 voting for the amendment and 203 against.
Trinamul’s Saugata Roy wanted the speech to include a reference to the secular nature of the country and regretted the absence of issues like the ghar wapsi programme of the VHP and RSS. All the other Opposition amendments were rejected by a voice vote. Moreover, Modi sought the cooperation of the Opposition for his government’s initiatives, like empowerment of states to strengthen federalism, the cleanliness drive and Jan Dhan, and efforts to fight corruption and black money.
Modi said his government would not deviate from the path of unearthing black money stashed abroad. “We are not going to deviate from this path. And no one will be spared. We are not going to digress from this path... Nobody should say we are vindictive. We have made a promise and I assure the House, action will be taken. It is not necessary the person should be politician. But whoever it is has done harm to the country,” he said adding, “There is need for government to have the will. We have the will. There’s need for government to make efforts. We are making efforts. Till we obtain a final victory, we will keep making those efforts, I assure the House.”
