Rajya Sabha today took up discussion on motion of thanks to the President’s address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament. Initiating the discussion, Bhupendra Yadav of BJP reiterated that the NDA government is working for the country’s development without any discrimination on the basis of religion and community.
Mr. Yadav accused Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party of playing divisive politics by extending support to anti CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh in the national capital. He attacked the two parties for not condemning objectionable remarks against the Prime Minister during the protest. The BJP leader also reiterated that CAA has been implemented to give citizenship to persecuted religious minorities of the neighbouring countries.
Stressing on the NDA government’s mantra of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, he said, the country is moving towards 21st century where every section of society has equal opportunities. He also said, the government has worked to resolve all pending issues like abolition of Article 370, Bodo issue and Bru-Reang crisis. He also listed out several government initiatives like GST implementation, RuPay card and Aadhaar. He said, NDA government has worked towards strengthening and modernizing the security establishment in the country.
Another BJP MP, Sudhanshu Trivedi said, the Narendra Modi government fulfilled the promises made to the people.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad criticized the government alleging that centre has taken the decisions related to abolishing article 370 and the Citizenship Amendment Act to divert the attention of people from the core issues. He said, these issues were raised to distract people from the issues of unemployment, price rise, black money and others. Mr. Azad said, the President’s speech does not find any mention of these important issues. He also said, decisions like demonetization and poor implementation of GST adversely impacted the economy and the poor people in the country. Mr. Azad alleged that the government is not working for the modernization of defence forces.
Sukhendu Shekhar Roy of TMC expressed his dissatisfaction over the non-inclusion of the present grim economic conditions of the country in the President’s address. He said, inflation and unemployment are continuously increasing whereas investment and growth are going down. He raised the questions over the reforms initiated by the centre.
BJD’s Prasanna Acharya said at a time when the nation is observing the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the atmosphere in the country is very unfortunate. He said, it is the duty of leaders of all political parties to remember Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of non-violence which is relevant especially in today’s context.
Elamaram Kareem of CPI(M) said, the country is going through the worst ever economic slowdown and alleged that NDA government has failed to address this. He added that there has been a continuous decline in national savings and jobs.
Tiruchi Siva of DMK said, NDA government failed to fulfil its poll promises of bringing back black money stashed abroad and providing jobs to unemployed youth. He said a socialist country is turning into a capitalist one and alleged that basic tenets of the Constitution are failing.
Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said, President’s speech did not mention the unemployment problem in the country. He said the country’s youth are unemployed and many people are losing their jobs due to the slowdown in the economy. He said, rupee has become one of the weakest currencies in Asia within one year.
The discussion remained inconclusive.