In a stormy end to opening session of the 18th Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a blistering attack on the Congress, launching a broadside against the newly-elected Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi whom he berated for having “balak buddhi” (a child’s brain), while the entire Opposition took to heckling and sloganeering throughout the PM’s speech.
The Prime Minister was replying to the motion of thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha, while the Opposition demanded that he spoke on Manipur and other issues. After Rahul Gandhi’s long address where he lashed out at the BJP in general and PM Modi in particular, the PM accused him of displaying “childish behaviour”.
“I would like to tell you about a child who returned from school and complained to the mother that he was beaten up. The child did not say that he had abused someone in the school, torn another’s book and stolen someone’s tiffin. Yesterday, we saw childish behaviour in the House. This was to gain sympathy. This person is out on bail on a corruption case, he has received punishment for calling an OBC person a thief and he has a case registered for insulting Veer Savarkar,” said Modi, attacking Rahul Gandhi.
With opposition members shouting ‘Justice for Manipur’ and entering the Well of the House, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was seen chiding Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Amidst this, Modi said: ”The people of this country have given a mandate to the Congress in the 2024 elections and the mandate of this country is that you sit in the opposition and when the arguments end, keep shouting.”
He said a “conspiracy” has been hatched to level false allegations against Hindus and to spread lies.
“Lies are being spread regarding EVMs...Lies regarding Constitution… Lies regarding reservation… before that lies regarding Rafale, HAL, LIC, banks… They even dare to mislead the House yesterday by telling lies about Agniveer, they said MSP was not being given,” said the PM.
“This is the nation’s bad luck that the Congress, which ruled for six decades, is busy spreading anarchy. They go to the South and speak against the people of the North; they speak against the South when they go North. They have made all possible attempts to create a divide based on language. The leaders who advocated separation of a part of the country, they were given Parliament tickets by the Congress,” said Modi.
“This is the third biggest defeat in the history of the Congress. It would have been better had the Congress accepted this defeat and respected the mandate of the people. But they are busy doing the same ‘sheershasana’. Bacche ka mann behlane ka kaam chal raha hai (they are trying to humour a child – reference to Rahul Gandhi),” said the PM.
Paper Leak
Modi assured that no one involved in paper leaks will be spared as the government is working on war footing. He also said that his government does not believe in appeasement.
“The President expressed concerns about paper leaks in her address. I also want to tell students and youngsters that the government is serious about controlling such incidents and we are taking back-to-back steps on a war footing to fulfil our responsibilities,” he said.
“Those playing with the future of youngsters will not be spared, arrests are being made across the country in the NEET issue. The Centre has already framed strict laws and important steps are being taken to strengthen the entire system of conducting examinations,” Modi added.
Modi said: “The country saw appeasement politics for long. We followed ‘santushtikaran’ not ‘tushtikaran’. Our motto is justice for all, appeasement to none.” On Monday, Rahul Gandhi had triggered a political storm when he accused the BJP of spreading “violence, hatred and lies”, which, he said, were against the tenets of Hinduism.
103% prdcutivity
Meanwhile, the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha recorded 103 per cent of productivity before adjourning sine die on Tuesday, Speaker Om Birla said. Now the House is expected to meet during later half of this month for Budget presentation, consideration and passage apart from other regular business.
The First Session that commenced on June 24, comprising 7 sittings, lasted for about 30 hours 40 minutes. During the Session, 539 members took Oath, informed Birla. The session also saw Birla coming back as Speaker for second consecutive term. Also, after a gap of 10 years, the House got Leader of Opposition as Rahul Gandhi was notified for the post.
The speaker said that the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address on June 27 lasted for more than 18 hours and 68 members participated in the discussion. In addition, 25 members laid their speeches. The discussion concluded with the reply of the Prime Minister on Tuesday. While a total of 41 matters were taken up under Rule 377, 03 Statements were made under Direction 73A. This apart, 338 papers were laid during the session.