 "Narendra Modi, PM Modi")
On the first day of the no-confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Opposition members criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s penchant for keeping silent when his government faces challenges, as he has done on the ethnic strife in Manipur and the failure to check violence in Haryana’s Nuh and also the northeast state.
Several Opposition members demanded President’s Rule in Manipur. The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members pointed at the contradictions within the Opposition alliance and their record of “scams”, listed the government’s achievements and implored the Opposition to support the PM as he leads India to a brighter future.
Earlier in the day, addressing the BJP MPs at a closed-door meeting of its parliamentary party, the prime minister said the Opposition brought the no-confidence motion against his government to test the confidence of its alliance members in each other as the INDIA bloc is marked by distrust among its constituents. He described the Opposition alliance as “ghamandia" (marked by arrogance).
According to those present at the meeting, Modi referred to his 2018 speech in which he had wryly wished the Opposition to bring a no-confidence motion against his government in 2023. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal told reporters that the PM asked MPs to join the party's programme on August 9, the anniversary of the Quit India Movement, to call for nepotism, corruption, and appeasement to quit India.
In the Lok Sabha, the big guns from the treasury and Opposition benches were missing in action on the first day of the debate – the PM is to speak on Thursday. While the Congress opened the debate with Gaurav Gogoi, and not Rahul Gandhi, that had Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi question why the Congress withdrew its leader’s name as lead speaker at the last minute.
Gogoi said the PM takes a “vow of silence” at crucial junctures, such as the ethnic violence in Manipur, Chinese incursions, deaths from Covid, farm Bills protest, Delhi riots, protests by women wrestlers and when Rahul Gandhi levelled allegations that a particular businessman benefited when he accompanied him on a foreign visit. The PM has not spoken, the Congress MP from Assam said, “because the state government failed to deal with the ethnic violence in Manipur and the Home Department and the National Security Advisor failed to handle the situation”.
While the BJP and Congress MPs jousted over the performance of the Modi government, those of smaller parties, such as the MPs from the two factions of the Shiv Sena, tried settling scores with each other. The Sena MPs from the two factions accused the other group of betraying and abandoning the ideology of party founder Bal Thackeray.
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Explaining his party’s support to the government, Biju Janata Dal’s Pinaki Misra said his leader, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, does not believe in bickering with or “constantly heckling” the Centre as it does not help the people of his state. Misra said Union Home Minister Amit Shah praised Patnaik as “India’s most popular CM” during his recent Odisha visit. He thanked the Centre for fulfilling some of his state’s “wish list”, such as removing the export tax on iron ore and manganese and approving an international airport in Puri.
BJP’s Nishikant Dubey asked the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) allies not to blame the current government for facing heat from central probe agencies but to turn their gaze inwards. He said previous Congress governments at the Centre initiated corruption cases against the top leaders of regional parties. He brought up the allegations of corruption against the Congress’ Gandhi family, and the Chinese funding of the news portal Newsclick.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju listed the government’s achievements, stating that the Modi government has paid special focus on the northeast. Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule said the government suffered from “hubris”, accusing it of toppling nine state governments.
