india

Updated: Jun 25, 2019 23:26 IST

In his first major speech to the 17th Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged all lawmakers to work towards creating a strong, modern and inclusive India and turning it into a $5 trillion economy, reiterated his commitment to fighting corruption, and attacked the Congress for not doing enough to help Muslims and women.

Replying to the debate on the President’s speech to Parliament, Modi spoke in the Lower House about the need for a collective will to realise his vision of a New India by 2022 — the 75th year of Independence — when growth will run on the twin tracks of India’s advancement and welfare of the poor.

He said that since assuming office less than a month ago after winning the general elections, his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had in its second term in power taken many “pro-people decisions.”

“A lot of the major promises we made, we have begun fulfilling them. We did not divert from our development path, we did not dilute our development agenda,” added Modi, who in his speech also evoked memories of the Congress party’s imposition of Emergency in the 1970s, saying the people had as one voted the NDA back to power just as they had done to vote out the Congress then.

Since taking charge, the Modi government has announced schemes for small traders and farmers to provide them a minimum monthly pension of Rs 3,000 a month and expanded PM-Kisan, the minimum assured income scheme announced in its first term, to include all eligible farmers.

Setting the tone of the 65-minute speech early on, Modi said he didn’t think of who lost and who won the recently concluded general elections, and uncharacteristically quoted Jawarharlal Nehru, saying he understood the dream of India’s first prime minister.

The PM quoted a 1951 Nehru speech about a paradigm shift towards responsibilities from rights. “We have been trying to move in that direction only. In the last government, when I called upon people to give up fuel subsidy, people gave it up voluntarily. It means that the country is ready. I understand the dream which Nehru saw. Let us all come together to create a new India, a modern India,” Modi said.

The Congress said it was a “great victory” for it that the PM had quoted Nehru. “He resorted to old evading tactics to hoodwink the common people, as if he was still in election mode,” said Congress’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Choudhury.

In his speech, which was free of any major disruption, Modi said the Congress had missed many opportunities to help Muslims, thought only one family — a reference to the Nehru-Gandhis — had contributed to the country’s progress and quipped that the opposition party had “risen” so much that it had lost touch with the ground.

“You have reached such a height that you are unable to see the ground realities. I don’t want to reach that height ever as I want to remain firmly rooted to the ground,” Modi said amid applause from the treasury benches

He urged lawmakers to rise above partisan lines to ensure India’s development. “We have to make India a $5-trillion dollar economy,” he said.

“You have made enough fun of ‘Make in India’ scheme. But how will India be a part of the five largest economies of the world? Earlier it was Jai jawan [soldier], jai kisan [farmer], jai vigyan [science], and now it will be jai anusandhan [innovation],” Modi said.

Make in India was a flagship scheme launched by the previous Modi administration to boost the manufacturing sector and attract foreign investment to India .

Without directly quoting any Congress leader, Modi used a 2017 interview by former minister Arif Mohammed Khan to say that during former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure, Congress ministers had said “it is not our responsibility to uplift Muslims”.

“You lost a chance in 1961 to bring the uniform civil code. You lost the chance. After 35 years in the Shah Bano case, you had a chance to rectify the gender injustice, you again missed it. Now, again after 35 years, we have brought a bill and Congress has a chance to help the Muslim women,” Modi said, referring to a bill criminalising the practice of Triple Talaq that was introduced in the Lok Sabha last week.

The Shah Bano case refers to a 1985 verdict by the Supreme Court that awarded maintenance to a middle-aged divorced woman. The judgment was later overturned by the Congress administration, allegedly under pressure from the Muslim clergy. “Muslims are our citizens,” Modi said.

“In 2019, people judged us in every way, observed our every moment and assessed us before casting the vote in our favour. I am thinking beyond these results. Today, after five years, I can say with satisfaction that jiska koi nahi hai, uska sarkar hai [the government is there for someone who has nothing].”

He alleged that between 2004 and 2014, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power, the party never praised former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and PV Narasimha Rao or even the incumbent, Manmohan Singh.

The Congress’s Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said the gap between rhetoric and reality had increased in the past five years.

Participating in the debate in the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O’Brien demanded that the government bring the Women’s Reservation Bill to provide quotas for women in Parliament and assemblies.

“The President in his address said having 78 women MPs in the Lok Sabha is a historic moment. This number is shameful, as women MPs make up a mere 14% of the total strength of the House.”

The PM will reply to the President’s speech in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday before he flies to Japan for the G20 summit.

(with agency inputs)