In what could be a redux of the last two instances of the President’s address to joint sittings of Parliament, which is customary before a session begins, the Opposition may push for amendments to the motion of thanks.

More than 100 amendments are on the table of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, which will be put to vote next week, along with the motion of thanks moved by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The key amendment is likely to about the deaths due to demonetisation. “The Opposition will move amendments to the motion. His speech was silent on the distress to people due to demonetisation,” CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told BusinessLine.

Yechury himself has moved more than 50 amendments. They key amendment says: “That at the end of the Motion, the following be added, namely: but regret that there is no mention in the Address about condoling or noting the tragic death of over 100 people and announcing adequate compensation to the families of those who lost their lives while standing in queue to withdraw their own hard earned money from banks/ATMs.”

The Opposition has also said there was “no mention” on the gains from demonetisation. It has also demanded to know “how much black money was recovered from the note demonetisation”. It is trying to enlist the support of all non-NDA parties on these crucial amendments.

‘We stand for change’

Prasad, while moving the motion, said that with demonetisation, the culture of corruption had been ended by the Narendra Modi government.

He said the Congress had looted all elements of the earth. “In space, we had the Antrix-Devas scam; in air, it was the spectrum scam; in the sky, we saw the helicopter scam. On the ground, we saw the Adarsh and Commonwealth scams; below the surface was the coal scam; and in the sea we saw the submarine scam,” he said.

He said the BJP government stood for change. “Before we came into power, we also had a political legacy. Our friends, please forgive us but what was the situation then? What was our state of economy? What kind of policy paralysis was there? How much corruption was there?” he asked.

Countering the charge, Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said 2016 had been a year of depression, recession, regression and suppression. “We all talk about demonetisation or notebandi... The President has appreciated demonetisation... But the government has been a failure on all fronts — black money, terrorism and fake currency,” he added.

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