New Delhi, June 27 (PTI): Opposition leaders on Thursday dubbed the President’s address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament as a “script given by the government” that was “full of lies” and castigated the government over the repeated mention of the 1975 Emergency.
They alleged there is an “undeclared emergency” in the country and the Constitution is being attacked under the Modi government.
In her address, President Droupadi Murmu described the imposition of Emergency in 1975 as the “biggest and darkest chapter” of a direct attack on the Constitution and said the country emerged victorious over unconstitutional forces.
Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said after listening to the President’s address it seems Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in a state of perpetual denial, claiming that people of India have rejected him in this election by not giving the BJP a majority.
He also said that there was no mention of the NEET issue resolution, price rise, unemployment, violence in Manipur, terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, train accidents and the plight of passengers in trains and atrocities on Dalits, adivasis and minorities in the BJP-ruled states.
“Listening to the President’s address written by the Modi government, it seemed as if Modi ji is in a perpetual state of denial! The mandate was against him because the people of the country rejected his slogan of “400 plus” and kept the BJP away from the figure of 272. Modi ji is unable to accept this, that is why he is pretending that nothing has changed, but the truth is that the people of the country had asked for change,” Kharge said in a post on X.
“Overall, Modi ji is making a futile attempt to garner some applause by making the Honourable President read lies, which the people of India have rejected in the 2024 elections,” he said while referring to the President’s address.
Kharge said though he will give a detailed response in his speech in the Rajya Sabha, but prima facie he found that “whitewashing will not work in the NEET scam”.
“Modi Government cannot run away from its responsibility by just simply saying that ‘we should rise above partisan politics’. The youth is demanding justice. Union Education Minister will have to take responsibility for this. Every second youth in the country is unemployed, and no concrete policy to eliminate unemployment has emerged from this speech,” Kharge said.
“There is no mention of 5 main issues even once in the entire address,” he said listing out backbreaking price rise as the first issue, violence in Manipur, attacks on minorities, Dalits, tribals in BJP-ruled states and plight of train passengers and rail accidents.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav punched holes in the government’s claim of India being the fifth largest economy in the world.
“The story that is being told about India becoming the fifth largest economy… has it made our farmers prosperous? If we are the fifth largest economy, then why are so many youths unemployed? Why is there a scheme like Agniveer? Why can’t price rise be controlled?” he asked.
The SP chief said, “We would have witnessed more growth if there was investment. It can improve our numbers but what is there in it for farmers, the poor and those who have been most exploited.”
Asked about the mention of Emergency by Murmu, he said, “What did the BJP do for the people who were in jail during Emergency? The SP gave them respect and pensions.”
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said President Murmu read out a “script given by the government” and added the BJP has not realised yet that it does not have a majority on its own.
“The government’s problem is that they are not yet able to understand that they have come to 240 from 303. They prepared the speech based on the majority of 303. That is why she said there is a clear majority government when the government is actually in minority,” she said.
Speaking about the recent general elections, Murmu said the whole world is talking about India’s Lok Sabha polls and “the world is witnessing that the people of India have elected a stable government with clear majority for a third consecutive term”.
CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation MP Sudama Prasad said the President’s address was “full of lies”.
“This is an alliance government which they are calling a majority government as if it is a BJP government. They should have talked about Manipur. Why are they making empty speeches on women empowerment? Women were paraded naked there (Manipur), people have been rendered homeless… women wrestlers have not yet received justice. This address was full of lies,” he said.
“That was a declared emergency and this one has not been declared,” he alleged.
Congress leader Tariq Anwar said there was nothing new in the President’s speech.
“They just made a few changes to old speeches. There was nothing new in the President’s address to Parliament today,” he said.
“Several elections have been held since Emergency in which the BJP was defeated. They have nothing new to say,” Anwar said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla have also condemned the imposition of Emergency.
In her first address 50-minute address to a joint sitting of both houses after Prime Minister Modi began his third term, the President highlighted the government’s measures in a range of sectors from economy, defence and farming to the empowerment of different sections of society, and laid down its priorities in its third term.
