Mallikarjun Kharge targets PM Modi, RSS in Rajya Sabha
Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of fostering communal politics.
NEW DELHI: In a scathing speech in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Leader of Opposition in the Upper House and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of fostering communal politics and blamed the government for various administrative lapses including the most recent irregularities in the conduct of examinations and alleged paper leaks.
He cited the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, the train accident, incidents of airport canopy collapses, bridge collapses in Bihar and a toll tax hike as examples of governance deficit.
Speaking in the Upper House during the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, Kharge lashed out at Modi for invoking communal sentiments during the Lok Sabha polls; and citing newspaper reports on a bunch of speeches by Modi which has communal undertones.
Kharge said during the campaign the PM tried to stoke fears about the Congress manifesto, alleging that there was a plan underfoot to take away the assets of the majority community and divide it among the minorities.
Quoting references from the PM’s speeches, he read out portions where he spoke about the Congress wanting to take away assets including the Mangalsutra (accoutrement worn by married women) of Hindu women.
“The government diverts the attention of the public from important issues. When the Opposition talks about farmers, Narendra Modi talks about releasing the buffaloes...When the Opposition talks about BJP’s divisive thinking, Narendra Modi talks about Aurangzeb and the Mughals...While the Opposition talks of unemployment and paper leaks, Narendra Modi talks of ‘mangalsutra’ ....” he said.
Instead of listening to people and the Opposition, Narendra Modi starts speaking his Mann Ki Baat, he added, even as chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar objected to the references and asked the LoP to authenticate the speeches attributed to the PM.
The chairman objected to Kharge’s explanation that the speeches have been sourced from newspapers and said such reports cannot be used for authentication even as the Opposition rose in protest. Pointing out that he would expunge the statements, the Chairman said, “It won’t go on record, it is derogatory, defamatory...”
Kharge also took potshots at the BJP for its slogan ‘Ab Ki Baar 400 Paar’ and said the party that exuded hubris has shrunk, and it is a result of people teaching a “lesson” to the BJP.
“This was the first election in the history of the country where the issue was protection of the Constitution. BJP had given the slogan of crossing 400. Its leaders had even talked about changing the Constitution if they crossed 400,” Kharge said.
The Opposition had accused the BJP of setting a target of winning 400 of the 543 seats to be able to change the Constitution and do away with caste-based quotas; a charge that was denied by Modi and the BJP.
“There are still people in the country who have a mindset contrary to social justice. This fight will be complete only when such ideology is uprooted and thrown away. The specialty of this session is that fearing the mandate, even the ruling party is discussing the Constitution, but there are people who still object to the slogan ‘Jai Samvidhaan’ in Parliament,” Kharge said.
Kharge also took a dig at Modi’s “ek akela sab pe bhari” remark made in the 17th Lok Sabha where he referred to be being capable of taking on the Opposition coalescing against him.
“The Opposition had to constantly struggle to put forward its views in the House, because BJP’s thinking was that there should be no opposition in Parliament....” Kharge said pointing out that the post of Deputy Speaker would not have been vacant in the 17th Lok Sabha.
The election results have shown that the country’s Constitution and people are more important than everything else. There is no place for arrogant slogans in democracy, he said.
“Ek akela par aaj kitne log bhaari hai, election ne dikha diya ki desh ka samvidhan aur janata sab par bhaari hei.” (Elections proved that Constitution and public are above all),” he said.
Lashing out at the government for the paper leaks and examinations that have been deferred and scrapped, Kharge said instead of taking steps to stem the leaks, the government initially denied the irregularities.
“If this keeps happening, students will stop studying...there have been 70 instances of paper leaks in the last 10 years,” he said.
Kharge criticised Modi and the BJP for referring to the INDIA Bloc as Ghamandiya or arrogant and said the results have punctured the “arrogance of BJP”. He said the party that used to make derogatory references to alliance government has been forced to form a government with allies, having fallen short of numbers. The BJP with 240 members had to rely on allies to form the government for the third time.
In a stinging attack on the government’s failure to stop violence in Manipur, Kharge said Modi, who visited 14 countries and made numerous trips across the country during campaign, chose not to visit the state even once.
“He talks about women and the poor. But Manipur has been burning for a year, he has not gone there till date,” Kharge said.
Referring to Agnipath, the revised scheme for employment of armed forces personnel, Kharge said the scheme should be revisited. He also alleged that the government was misusing central agencies including the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to “silence the opposition” and accused Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah of misleading investors based on exit poll results.
“On May 19, the PM said the stock market is going to move fast, so invest. Then the home minister also asked people to invest in the market. After the exit polls were released on June 3, the stock market broke all records, but after the election results were released on June 4, the stock market fell, investors suffered a loss of ₹30 lakh crore,” Kharge said.
He also accused the government of taking an arbitrary decision to move statues of freedom fighters and relocating them. “There was no meeting or prior consultation. It was done as though in authoritarian rule,” he said.
Dhankar, however, said the process was carried out methodically and there should not be criticism for the sake of criticism.
In a reference to the President’s address, Kharge said the speech had “no vision or direction” and “ignored” the poor, Dalits and minorities.
“We were confident that the President would say something about the challenges to the Constitution and democracy. She would give a strong message to the most vulnerable sections. But we were deeply disappointed to find that there was nothing in it for the poor, the Dalits, the backward classes, and the minorities,” he said.
Kharge’s repeated reference to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fount of the BJP drew a sharp reaction from the government as well as the Chair. Dhankar asked if being a member of any organisation was a crime. RSS is an organisation that works for the country, Dhankar said and ordered statement against the organisation to be expunged from the records.