Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked the opposition Congress to shed its arrogance of majority in Rajya Sabha and allow the Members of Lok Sabha to work seamlessly and fulfill the aspirations of the public who elected them.
Replying to Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Modi said the people have seen enough negativity of the Opposition in the Upper House and have given the incumbent government a huge mandate in the Lok Sabha.
He said the difference between previous governments and his is the last mile delivery. Mr Modi said with that commitment, they could complete building of 1.5 crore houses in the last five years.
Mr. Modi said that India is a country of 120 crore population, and nothing wrong in dreaming to be a five trillion economy. He appealed to all the states to take part in the economic development of the country.
While taking a dig at the Opposition, Mr Modi said they have problems with technology, digital transactions, Aadhaar and GST. He advised the Opposition to allow the technological changes, rather seeing them with negativity.
Taking inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Year of Birth Anniversary and 75th Year of Independence, Mr. Modi appealed to adopt small changes in life and work to inspire a big revolution. He said this can be started with the identified 112 aspirational districts.
The Prime Minister said electoral reforms should be a continuous process. He said ever since the first elections, reforms in poll process has been a feature. He admitted that his party had once doubted the efficiency of EVMs, however, accepted them after understanding technology.
Mr. Modi said Indian voters are matured and they cannot undermine their wisdom. He asked all political parties to participate in the dialogue on One nation One Election to save time and money for development.
Jharkhand lynching incident as painful
The Prime Minister termed the Jharkhand lynching incident as painful and said the guilty should be given a harsh punishment.
He, however, said that calling Jharkhand as a hub of lynching and mob violence is unfair and an insult to the state. Mr Modi said one must not differentiate between good and bad violence just as there is no differentiating good and bad terrorism.
He said a uniform yardstick must be applied to all acts of violence, whether it takes place in Jharkhand, West Bengal or Kerala. He added that this will give a clear message to the perpetrators of violence that the country is against them.
Ayushman Bharat
Mr Modi termed Ayushman Bharat as a revolution in health services to poor sections of the society. He said Ayushman Bharat has almost reduced the requests from MPs for Prime Minister Relief Fund to zero.
He said deaths of children in Bihar due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome is unfortunate. However, Mr. Modi expressed solidarity with the state government and confidence that the country will collectively come out of this crisis soon.
Talking about cooperative federalism, Mr Modi repeated his call for National Ambitions with Regional Aspirations (NARA). Mentioning the bills that were not passed in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Modi also reminded that it is Rajya Sabha’s responsibility of Cooperative federalism to pass the bills that were sent by the Lok Sabha.