Express News Service By

KOLLAM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday targeted the Opposition for being engaged in disruption, destruction and demolition of Parliament activities. They seem to be turning a deaf ear to President Pranab Mukherjee’s observation in Kolkata the other day that Parliament should function under the three Ds (Debate, Dissent and Decision), Modi said after unveiling the statue of the late Chief Minister R Sankar at S N College here.

Modi said the Opposition is yet to recover from the hangover of its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Unable to bear the defeat, it is now out to take on the government by disrupting Parliament. “Disrupt, Destruct and Demolish” is now the Congress slogan. The Opposition parties are not bothered about the future and growth of the country which is a mockery of democracy. But the BJP government will march ahead with its programmes to lead the nation to newer heights by adding another D - Development, the Prime Minister said.

Modi said he was obliged to SNDP chief Vellappally Natesan and the SNDP for giving him an opportunity to unveil the statue of Sankar. He said some become Chief Minister and Prime Minister for a period of 10 or 20 years. But people still fail to recognise them. “Sankar became Chief Minister only for two years, but still is being remembered for his social work,” the the Prime Minister noted.

Modi said Sankar and (Mannath) Padmanabhan, who formed the NSS, had organised a Hindu Maha Mandal conference to which Jan Sangh leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was invited. But he could not come as he was indisposed. But when Mukherjee came to Thiruvananthpuram, Sankar went and met him. Later, Sankar was invited as a special invitee for a meeting of the Jan Sangh at Kanpur.

“Normally politicians are forgotten a couple of years after their death. Some politicians are dead even when they are alive. But it is surprising that people still have high regard for Sankar even several years after his death. This is because he had followed the path shown by social reformer Sree Narayana Guru till his last breath. There are occasions when politicians have to compromise whereas Sankar never compromised even as he had faced several challenges in his political life,” Modi said.

Modi said he saluted Sankar as his main aim was to educate the Dalits, downtrodden, oppressed and the exploited. Modi said he had faced the trauma of backwardness and poverty in life and no one needed to teach him about it. Modi said he had seen the desire of development in the eyes of the SNDP workers during a visit to Sivagiri Ashram when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He said if any government had to serve the poor and the deprived class of society, it needed to follow the path shown by Sree Narayana Guru.

Modi said the first right over the BJP government at the Centre was for the Dalit, the poor and the backward class.

The government is working on projects to help the poor and the oppressed class to fight the difficulties encountered by them.

Referring to the appeals by Vellapally Natesan to name the Central university at Kasargod after Sree Narayana Guru, provide special package for SHG-operating micro finance, and implementation of Sabari rail project, Modi said these were of great priority. But he was constrained not to make any promise on them now as Parliament is in session.

Meanwhile, four Youth Congress activists were taken into custody by police for waiving black flags at the Prime Minister when he was proceeding to the venue for unveiling the statue of Sankar, in protest against the alleged “insult” towards Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

No mention of row in cm-pm talks

The controversy over the R Sankar statue installation didn't figure in the talks between PM Narendra Modi and CM Oommen Chandy. "I didn't want to vitiate the cordial atmosphere during the Prime Minister's visit to the State," Chandy said.

sankar’s son rail at ‘hijack’ bid

The statue unveiling ceremony of R Sankar was conspicuous by the absence of R Sankar’s family. Shankar’s kin pulled out at the 11th hour in protest against an article published in the BJP’s mouthpiece, which claimed that Sankar was an RSS activist.

‘guru inspired me to work for poor’

Reiterating his stand that Sree Narayana Guru was a torch-bearer of renaissance and a major force behind the uplift of the downtrodden, PM Narendra Modi said he was getting groundswell of inspiration to work for the poor, backward sections of society from his teachings.

(With inputs from PTI)