Modi says 'Hawalabaaz' Congress roadblocked GST

Says that almost all parties were in agreement that the Parliament should function during recent Monsoon Session

In response to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s hawabaazi (empty bluster) jibe at him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said her party was a hawalabaaz (scandal-ridden) grouping, bent on disrupting the government’s reform agenda since losing power last year. He was addressing a gathering of party workers at Raja Bhoj airport here.  

They (Congress) were blocking passage of the goods and services tax legislation, he said, alleging the Congress was uncomfortable since his government had taken a tough stance against undisclosed money.

Almost all other parties, he charged, were agreed that Parliament should return to normal functioning in the recent monsoon session but, “ek hai jo manta nahi (there is one who does not accept this)”.

He said India was undeterred even as the world was facing economic turbulence. “Today, the country had never-before opportunities to reap. Let us not waste these,” Modi appealed.