Uproar as Rahul attacks govt in 1st speech as LoP
The LoP — the first in the Lok Sabha in 10 years — spent a bulk of his speech focussing on the economy.
Rahul Gandhi’s first major speech as Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha lasted 62 minutes, covered a wide sweep of hot-button issues from the ethnic conflict in Manipur to the NEET controversy, the Agnipath scheme for recruitment to the armed forces to the farm crisis, and inflation to the politics of hate, and provoked interventions from senior leaders on the treasury benches including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, and defence minister Rajnath Singh.
Switching between Hindi and English, Gandhi’s speech was marked by the same aggression that characterised many of his speeches on the campaign trail, and its real impact can be measured by the government attempting to fact-check it, and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders such as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath seeking an apology from Gandhi for allegedly insulting the sentiments of millions of Hindus.
Adityanath’s reference was to Gandhi’s comment that “those who call themselves Hindu only talk about violence, hatred, untruth… you are not Hindus at all”.
The comment brought the Prime Minister to his feet: “Calling the entire community violent is a very serious matter,” he interjected.
But Gandhi was quick to respond that his comment was about the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s brand of Hinduism.
To be sure, there is a possibility that some of the comments may be expunged after review. However, no such decision was taken at the time of going to press.
While the comment on Hindus may have generated the most heat, and the use of a picture of Lord Shiva as a prop created a controversy (the use of such props is not allowed by Parliament rules), Gandhi managed to criticise the government on a host of issues.
It was a performance that was cheered by other Opposition leaders, had several senior BJP MPs waving the rule book and asking the Speaker to intercede, and countered by Union ministers
The LoP — the first in the Lok Sabha in 10 years — spent a bulk of his speech focussing on the economy and accusing the BJP of failing to create jobs or easing prices, and of complicating taxation.
“MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) have been destroyed. The backbone of job creation has been wrecked due to demonetisation and the flawed GST,” he said, adding that these moves were meant to benefit industrialists.
“Even in Gujarat, small traders said, it was done for billionaires. Narendra Modi works for billionaires,” Gandhi said. “To scare farmers, you destroyed the land acquisition law we made. Then you brought in the three farm laws. The PM said it will benefit farmers.”
He also accused the government of denying farmers minimum support prices for their crops, drawing a charged response from yet another Union minister, as agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
“If you are making allegations, then verify them. You are lying. How much purchase was made when you were in power?” Chouhan asked.
Gandhi also attacked the Agniveer scheme.
“I met the family of an Agniveer. I call him a martyr. But Modi calls him Agniveer. There is no pension for him, there is no status of a martyr. An Agniveer is a use-and-throw labourer. You are creating differences between soldiers,” he said.
This prompted an intervention from defence minister Rajnath Singh and home minister Amit Shah.
“The LoP shouldn’t mislead the house by giving false speeches. If an Agniveer dies during war or at the border, his family gets ₹1 crore,” Rajnath said.
Shah then said, “He (Gandhi) should speak on factual positions, or apologise.”
Gandhi stood his ground.
Singh then stood up to refute Gandhi’s claims again.
“One fifty-eight organisations were consulted before this scheme was launched. It is a well-planned scheme. Such schemes are there in different countries including the UK and US,” he said.
Gandhi said, “I have spoken. Rajnath Singh has stated his position. The people of the country know what is the truth. Neither his speech nor mine will make a difference. The country knows Agniveer is not the army’s scheme. It is the PM’s scheme.”
“If we come to power, we will remove this scheme,” he added.
The Rae Bareli MP then said voters in Ayodhya had rejected the BJP despite the Ram Temple being built there because of the party’s hubris and arrogance. The BJP’s Lallu Singh lost the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, of which Ayodhya is a part, to the Samajwadi Party’s Awadesh Sharma.
“Ayodhya sent you a message. Lord Ram’s place of birth sent you a message,” he said.
UP chief minister Adityanath later said Gandhi made the remarks to “defame UP and Ayodhya.”
Gandhi also referred to the fiasco around the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG), which has been dogged by allegations of paper leaks and skewed results.
“NEET students spend years preparing for the exams. And the truth is NEET students don’t believe in exams and it is designed for rich people and not for meritorious people. This creates a quota for rich people. The students study, but don’t know if the exams will be leaked or not.”
This year’s NEET-UG, conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admissions to MBBS, BDS and other related undergraduate courses across India, has been beset with a series of allegations ranging from question paper leaks, inflated marking and arbitrary allowance of grace marks – issues that have become a nationwide flashpoint for political parties, leading to thousands of students protesting for weeks.
Several petitioners have approached the Supreme Court with various requests relating to the exam, including a plea to scrap it entirely or halt the counselling process — by which students are allotted seats in different colleges — that is scheduled to begin on July 6. The court refused to pass any interim orders and is due to hear the matter again on July 8.
Later on, at a press conference, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw hit back at Gandhi and said he “denigrated” the LoP position.
“Gandhi has always enjoyed power without responsibility. Now he holds a responsible position. But he made a most irresponsible speech today,” he said, claiming that the Congress has always weakened the constitutional bodies.