Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI, JULY 2 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his reply to the Motion of Thanks by the President in the Lok Sabha amid chants of ‘Manipur, Manipur, Justice for Manipur’ from the Opposition.

Demanding justice for Manipur, the Opposition stormed into the Well of the House during the Prime Minister’s speech.

Chanting slogans like ‘Dictatorship won’t be tolerated’, the Opposition continued its protest to demand a discussion on Manipur, forcing Modi to pause his speech briefly as Speaker Om Birla attempted in vain to bring order to the House.

Modi hailed the NDA’s win in the “biggest elections in the world”. “I understand the pain of some that they have been defeated despite their best efforts to spread lies. That people chose us for a third term is a matter of pride,” he said.

He asserted that “India first” is the key to the Centre’s policies and governance. He highlighted the NDA government’s fight against corruption, while reiterating the slogan of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’.

Modi said the BJP’s campaign to lift over 25 crore people out of poverty has brought them blessings during the elections.

“The country saw appeasement politics for long. We followed santushtikaran not tushtikaran,” he said.

“The country was in the depths of despair in 2014. People elected us and an era of transformation began,” PM Modi added.

While hailing his government’s actions and schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted that the Opposition couldn’t bring in the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir, adding that Article 370 had taken away people’s rights.

“People who now dance with the Constitution did not dare to apply it there. Security forces were stoned. People said nothing could happen. After abrogation of Article 370, stone pelting is over. People are trusting the Constitution, flag and democracy of India and voting in large numbers,” he said.

Modi said that the people of India have given him mandate for stability and continuity.

“People gave us mandate for stability, continuity; NDA scored unprecedented success in 4 state polls as well. People’s mandate for Congress is to sit where it is, in opposition,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that NDA not only won at the Centre, but also in four states. “There were four state elections along with the Lok Sabha polls. The NDA got unprecedented success in all four states. Mahaprabhu Jagannath’s land Odisha has blessed us. In Andhra Pradesh, there has been an NDA clean sweep. In Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, the NDA is back. Six months ago, we won Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh.”

Modi’s response to Parliament comes a day after Rahul Gandhi’s fiery first speech as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi addressed a broad range of pressing issues, including the ethnic conflict in Manipur, the NEET controversy, the Agnipath scheme for military recruitment and the farm crisis.

-The New Indian Express