“The earthquake finally made its entry yesterday. We had been hearing earthquake threats for a long time,” that’s how PM Modi chose to begin his Lok Sabha Address. He was referring to Congress PM-in-Waiting Rahul Gandhi’s statement that there will be an earthquake in Parliament if he were to speak the alleged scam in demonetisation and about PM Modi’s ‘personal corruption’.
PM Modi was not in a mood to let Rahul Gandhi go without some special treatment. He quickly took him for glorifying SCAM, in his words “How can someone see SEVA or any positive virtue in the word SCAM?”
He invoked The Emergency and evoked about how democracy was under siege from 1975 to 1977, when opposition leaders were put behind the bars, and newspaper freedom ceased to exist.
He saluted Jan Shakti – the might of the people. There is something very special about ‘Jan Shakti’. In PM Modi’s words “It is due to this ‘Jan Shakti’ that the son of a poor mother can become the Prime Minister of India. There are many like me here who were born after independence. While we did not have the honour to struggle for the nation’s independence but we are living for the nation and serving it utmost honesty.
In what was a strong jibe at the UPA Governments PM Modi said that somewhere down the line, ‘Jan Shakti’ was overlooked but the BJP government doesn’t believe in this. He said “Let us recognize and appreciate the intrinsic strength of our public and take India to newer heights. Trust in Jan Shakti will give results”
PM Modi’s relentless assault on Congress in the Lok Sabha continued when he said “I have always believed that it in the past, every Prime Minister of India has contributed to the nation building. But there is a party here that wants to attribute everything to one family”.
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I was taken aback that there were some who made hygiene and sanitation a political issue too. Why can’t we work in synchronization on piloting a Swachh Bharat?
He then took the subject of demonetisation and crackdown on black money. He said that from Day 1, PM and his team have been clear- we are ready for a discussion on demonetisation but the opposition was keener on TV bytes and not debates. He then took on Lok Sabha Opposition leader Mallikarjuna Kharge as the latter had mentioned that real black money is being held in the form of jewellery and property. PM Modi said that agrees with Kharge Ji’s statement but the house wants to know when did he realise this leaving even the opposition benches in splits.
Clearing his stand on the massive impact that Demonetisation had, PM Modi said that this government doesn’t see everything from the prism of elections. The interests of the nation are sacrosanct for them. He further said, People asked why did they bring demonetisation into effect when the economy was doing well. As a doctor, would say the best time to perform a surgery is when the body is completely healthy. Like Swachh Bharat, the verdict on demonetisation is a movement to clean India. After demonetisation they did their best to help people who were facing issues, they also had to twist guidelines to stop the evil advances of people trying to game the system.
PM Modi then went on to name the achievements of his government in his Lok Sabha Address.
He told the house that 22,27,000 houses have been constructed in the past one year, Rs 7633 crore leakage in social programs has been stopped. He also explained the massive success of welfare schemes such as Kisan Fasal Beema Yojna, Ujjwal and Ujjwala Yojna.
PM Modi raised some important questions too.
He asked the opposition benches about the rationale behind amending MNERGA 1035 times.
Why middlemen were such an important part of the system?
When Rajiv Gandhi was the PM, they enacted the Benaami Bill, why didn’t they notify it then?
But PM Modi’s typical wit and sarcasm was certainly the best part of his Lok Sabha address. From Rahul Gandhi to Mallikarjuna Kharge to even Bhagwant Mann, PM Modi’s witticisms spared none. The best ones would be:
Congress wanders from village to village saying that Rajiv Gandhi brought mobile network and computers to India, but when I say use the same mobile for banking, you say villagers don’t have phones. What’s the point then?
PM Modi invoked a clause from Chavark Darshan which states “Udhaar lekar Ghee Piyo (Make merry on credit)” and he quickly mentioned “Had Bhagwant Bhai been there, he would have drunk something else instead of Ghee” a jibe at Mann’s fondness for alcohol.