 "Narendra Modi")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday invoked late Congress stalwarts and prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi to urge the opposition to let parliament function "peacefully and responsibly".
"Parliament is a forum where different view points are put forward, where questions are being asked to the government, where government is made accountable and nobody is spared, and one shouldn't expect otherwise," Modi said, replying to the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to President Pranab Mukherjee's address to parliament.
"And in doing so, it would be great if we uphold parliamentary traditions" to let the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha function "peacefully and responsibly", he said.
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"It is not me saying this... These are the words of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi," Modi told the Lok Sabha with most of the MPs present in the house.
He also referred to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his speeches in parliament and urged the opposition to help the government pass crucial legislations, including the Goods and Services Tax bill.
"If house maintains decorum, we will be able to put our point of view in a better manner," he said.
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Modi also referred to Left leader Somnath Chatterjee who was Lok Sabha speaker during the first UPA government from 2004 to 2009.
"As far as disruptions are concerned, our former speaker and some members here whose guide and philosopher Somnath Chatterjee said that to disrupt is totally counter-productive."
Modi also stressed that the nation suffers if parliament does not function properly.
"The House is a place where debates are to take place. When parliament sessions are not functional, the nation suffers and more than that the MPs suffer because they can't discuss issues," said Modi.
Parliament is a forum where the government is questioned and made to clarify its stand on various issues, Modi said and added that the sessions are fruitful if boundaries are maintained during a debate.
Taking a dig at the Opposition, he also said that members of the ruling NDA are not allowed to speak out of an inferiority complex, so that the nation cannot see their views and skills.
In an obvious attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said some people appeared reluctant to learn with age.
"Some people learn with age but some don't," he said, a day after Gandhi attacked the prime minister and his reluctance to take the opposition on board over various issues.
Again, without taking Gandhi's name, Modi recalled how the Congress leader had in 2013 tore before reporters a controversial ordinance of the then Congress government on convicted lawmakers.
The incident occurred when then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the US. This, Modi said, embarrassed the party.
MPs from the BJP and its allies thumped their desks in appreciation even as the opposition booed following Modi's remark.
Modi said he was being criticised because the Congress was feeling "jealous" with his government's achievements in less than two years -- something "they didn't do in 60 years".
"They are worried because we are doing better."
He also took a dig at the Congress for poor implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the states.
Citing the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report of 2012, Modi said the Congress-led UPA government failed to get the scheme implemented to maximum effect in the poorest states.
"Kharge ji (Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge) said that there is corruption in MGNREGA, I agree with him 1000%. I don't disagree with it," said the Prime Minister.
He said the 2012 CAG report had stated that the scheme was implemented better in states where the population of the poor was less.
"But the states in which it was needed the most, the scheme was utilized the least. This means we could not target the poor through this scheme properly," Modi said.
The CAG report had also stated that even after seven years of its inception, there were five such states which did not even draft the rules of the scheme, he said.
"The sad part is that among the five, four are those states who sing the praises of the scheme," Modi added.
However, as his more than an hour-long speech in Hindi drew to a close, Modi made a plea for peace.
"Let's walk shoulder-to-shoulder and do something for the country. I am new, you are experienced. Come, let us work together for the country. We indulge in verbal brawls because we fear what will be printed in the newspapers. All of us have to work together and think of increasing the accountability of the executive."
