Poor our focus, says PM Modi, slams Opposition as family, Sheesh Mahal

He said 4 crore houses and 12 crore toilets have been built by his government for the poor, and that tap water had been taken to 12 crore families. Targeting the Opposition, he said, “Those who went to huts of villagers for photo sessions for entertainment will find this talk in Parliament about the poor meaningless. I can understand their anger.”

Recalling that a Prime Minister called Mr Clean — he was referring to Rajiv Gandhi — had said that just 15 paise of every rupee that leaves Delhi reaches the villages, Modi said direct payments to the poor had solved this problem by sending Rs 40 lakh crore to people’s accounts.

“We saved lots of money but did not use it to build a Sheesh Mahal (Kejriwal’s official residence when he was Chief Minister). We used it to build the country. From Rs 1.8 lakh crore in 2014, our infrastructure budget has gone up to Rs 11 lakh crore,” he said.

Hailing the Union Budget that is being considered middle class-friendly, he said, “Before 2014, such was the firing that people’s lives got battered. We have healed those wounds and are moving forward.” He said the income tax exemption limit of Rs 2 lakh in 2014 had now gone up to Rs 12 lakh. “If we add the Rs 75,000 standard deduction, the salaried class will pay no income tax for an annual income of Rs 12.75 lakh,” he said.

Much of his speech was devoted to criticism of the Opposition, especially the Congress. “Some people are openly speaking the language of Urban Naxals these days. To fight the Indian state is the language of Naxals. Those who speak this language can understand neither the Constitution nor national unity,” he said, referring to Rahul Gandhi’s remark about “fighting the Indian State itself”.

On Sonia Gandhi referring to President Droupadi Murmu as a “poor thing”, Modi said, “If you cannot respect a woman President from a poor family, it is fine. But what all is being said to insult her. Why? Today Bharat has left this kind of distorted mentality behind and is moving forward with the idea of women-led development.”

He also took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi for his statements on foreign policy, saying, “Some people believe that they won’t look mature unless they talk about foreign policy, even if it harms the country.” He said such people should read the book JFK’s Forgotten Crisis — it is by Bruce Riedel — as it mentions discussions between Pandit Nehru and Kennedy and explains “what game was being played in the name of foreign policy”.

To him, AI was double AI — Artificial Intelligence and Aspirational India, he said, and gave details of the steps taken by his government in the field of technology. “We have started 10,000 tinkering labs in the country. This Budget has made provisions for 50,000 new tinkering labs. The world is looking towards India on AI,” he said.

It was the BJP, he said, that lived by the Constitution. As Chief Minister of Gujarat, he released a book compiling all speeches of Governors in the state Assembly on completion of 50 years of Gujarat as a state despite the fact that Congress had been in power for a longer time.

Targeting the Gandhis, he said while some people had created family museums in Delhi, his government had built a museum dedicated to all Prime Ministers.

“Those who walk with the Constitution in their pocket do not know how they compelled Muslim women to lead a life full of trouble. By ending instant triple talaq, we have given Muslim women their rights,” he said.

Countering the Opposition’s caste pitch, Modi said, “Talking about caste has become a fashion for some people today… For 30-35 years, they did not bother to think about giving the backward classes commission the status of a constitutional body. I want to pose another question… Has it ever happened that three members from one Dalit family or a tribal family have been Members of Parliament at the same time? From this question, you can understand the difference between words and deeds of some people. There is a difference between day and night and sky and earth,” he said — he was referring to three members of the Gandhi family who are MPs now.

“Without creating tension and keeping social unity alive, we are empowering the disadvantaged sections. Before 2014, there were 387 medical colleges in India. Today, there are 780 medical colleges. The number of seats has increased with more medical colleges,” he said. “Before 2014, there were 7,700 SC seats in medical colleges; now the number is 17,000. Before 2014, there were 3,300 ST seats in medical colleges; now the number is almost 9,000 seats. For OBCs, from 14,000, the number of medical seats has gone up to 32,000.”

“When we came to power in 2014, there was no recognised Opposition. There are several laws in the country which gives us complete freedom to work. There are many committees of which the Leader of the Opposition was a member.”

“But there was no recognised Opposition. It is our commitment to the Constitution, our nature to live by it, our intention to follow democratic principles that we decided that even if there is no recognised Opposition… we would invite the leader of the largest Opposition party to the meetings. This can happen only if you imbibe the democratic spirit. Earlier, the Prime Minister used to appoint the Election Commissioner. But it was we who included the Leader of the Opposition in that committee (to select the EC),” he said.