PM Narendra Modi slams Congress, says people won’t forgive them

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Hitting out at the Opposition, Modi said the people of the country will not forgive political  parties for the way Parliament functioned. “You have been elected and sent to Parliament. Go to the House, hold discussions for two days, five days or seven days. However, not accepting rules of democracy, not paying heed to 400 Members of Parliament and 40 people conspiring to put roadblocks is an insult to democracy,” said Modi.

He said it was time people pressured their MPs to attend Parliament, facilitate its functioning and raise issues. He said that because of the “pride” of a few persons, Parliament is being divided and not being allowed to function.

Modi said that if their voice is suppressed in Lok Sabha, then he will go to Jan Sabha. “Today, I am presenting my Lok Sabha case in Jan Sabha,” he said.

In his 26-minute address, Modi said it was in Chandigarh that he had said that serious steps will be taken for implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. Stating that people from the region joined Armed Forces in large numbers, Modi said every family in the region is like a “Suraksha Kavach” for the nation.

He accused previous governments of not seriously considering the OROP issue.

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After a gap of 30 years people have given a huge mandate to one party at the Centre, he said, adding, “people will not forgive some of the political parties for their conduct in Parliament.”

“Ideals of democracy were not respected,” he said while targeting Congress.

On the vexed issue of One Rank One Pension (OROP) for ex-servicemen, Modi said that the previous UPA government allocated only Rs 500 crore for the scheme, but when his government looked into this matter, it was realised that the amount required was Rs 10,000 crore.

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That is why the previous government allocated Rs 500 crore for this. However, when the calculations were done, the amount required was Rs 10,000 crore, he said.

“The credit for implementation of OROP should not go to the government or to Narendra Modi. It should go to the poor people, the common people,” Modi added.

The PM exhorted the gathering to make resolutions that benefit the people and the country and fulfil them before the 75th Independence Day in 2022. He said his dream was to ensure that all poor people get houses by that time.

Earlier, Haryana CM M L Khattar told the gathering that the new airport would contribute to the development of Chandigarh, Panckhula and Mohali. He added that the state government is developing Shivalik and its adjoining areas as tourist and natural medicine destinations and the new airport would accelerate this development.

Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal credited Modi for promoting co-operative federalism and said that the share states get in taxes has been increased from 32 per cent to 42 per cent.

On Twitter, people call it ‘City Modiful’

Chandigarh: Social media was abuzz with comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city on Friday. People tweeted that with the PM’s visit, Chandigarh did not look like City Beautiful, but ‘City Modiful’. Calling it VVIPism, a large number of people criticised the decision to postpone exams. ENS