The Motion of Thanks on President’s address saw exchange of bitter accusations and allegations between the ruling the treasury and Opposition benches of Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Hitting out at the Congress and the Aam Adami Party (AAP) for giving “moral support” to Shaheen Bagh stir, the ruling BJP said that young minds were “poisoned through hate-filled speeches” in the name of freedom of expression during anti-CAA protests, while Congress said the Government has created these “destructive” issues to divert attention from key challenges like economic slowdown, farm distress and unemployment.
Initiating the debate on Motion of Thanks on President’s address in the Upper House, senior BJP leader Bhupender Yadav also lauded the Government for multiple initiatives to take India ahead globally while being rooted to its values whether on digital front, agriculture, health or national security.
Yadav said “Congress and AAP are giving moral support” to the agitation and the “minds of small children are being poisoned”.
Yadav quoted a statement by Trinamool MP Derek ‘O Brien on how his relatives who went to Pakistan had to migrate and how those who came to India prospered. “We have got the citizenship law so that O’Briens remain O’Briens and are not forced to convert to other religions,” Yadav said.
Participating in the debate, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad expressed the hope that the government would soon realise its “mistake” of bifurcating Jammu & Kashmir into two union territories and bring a bill in this session to restore its statehood. He was of the view that had the Government brought constructive proposals, the opposition would have supported them all through.
“Triple Talaq, CAA, NPR issues are being talked about by you to divert attention on key issues of unemployment, black money, slow GDP growth. Your ideas or proposals are not constructive but destructive,” Azad said.
Responding to BJP’s allegations, Azad retorted: “Shaheen Bagh is your creation. You want to run the government, and at the same time play role of Opposition and come down on streets also to protest against all issues.”
He held the Government responsible for not holding of discussions on issues like GDP growth slowdown, rising inflation and recent hike in levies on products like refrigerator, TV, AC, medical equipment, automobiles, tyres etc.
He said that the Government cannot keep on abusing neighbouring countries and needs to modernise the defence.
Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray accused the Government of hiding the real picture of the economy and criticised its disinvestment policy, saying it is on a mission of “beecho (sell) India”.
The Government is selling PSUs along with LIC, which are properties of the people and steps are being taken without inviting any suggestions from policy makers and employees unions, he said while participating in the debate on Motion of Thanks on President's address in Rajya Sabha.