New Delhi | The opposition leaders on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not speak on important issues in his reply in Rajya Sabha on the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address and instead focused on targeting them.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien called the PM's speech as 'Mann Ki Baat Rajya Sabha edition' and said Parliament has been converted into a "dark, deep chamber".
"PM Narendra Modi delivers long Mann Ki Baat (Rajya Sabha edition). His government has converted Parliament into a deep, dark chamber. No guarantees about employment, price rise, Manipur. Hollow words about federalism from a man who has blood on his hands for butchering federalism," O'Brien said in a post on X.
Congress leader Rajiv Shukla hit back at Modi for his comments about former PM Jawaharlal Nehru "opposing" reservation and said reservation was implemented by the government led by the first prime minister of the country.
"When was the reservation given? In Congress' time under the Jawaharlal Nehru government. After that Narasimha Rao ji implemented reservation for backward classes. But the Congress took care of all caste groups. We did not use them for votes," Shukla said.
"They are used to abusing former governments. What was not done in the 10 years (of Manmohan Singh government)? They are now implementing schemes made at that time, like the MGNREGA, Food Security Act and loan waiver. Even the Chandrayaan project was started under the Manmohan government," he said.
Congress leader Ranjeet Ranjan said while the prime minister talked about women, youth, poor and farmers, the government has not done enough for them.
"The PM said a lot of things. He talked about women, youth, the poor and farmers. They promised to double the MSP (but) it has not happened. They talk about youth but there is no employment. They talk about women but the CAG report says cylinders are refilled only once a year. They talk about the poor (but) does a person stop being poor by getting five kgs of grains?" she said.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, meanwhile, said the speech showed that the BJP is scared of the Congress and asked if the prime minister knows RSS' views on reservation.
"The speech showed how much he is scared of the Congress. He is only attacking the Congress. That indicates the significance of the Congress. The PM has to study about Pt Jawaharlal Nehru to know who he is... He is referring to Nehru's quote but who gave the reservation? Did the BJP do it? What was the RSS' view on reservation?" he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, meanwhile, said the prime minister should have given an account of the work of his government instead of focusing on the opposition.
"All I will say is that it would have been better if he (PM Modi) had given an account of what his government did in the last 10 years. You have formed the government by cursing the Congress," she said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, "Every speech by PM Modi is an election speech. Half of it (speech) has lies".
