No-confidence motion debate: BJP counters with praise of PM, lists welfare schemes to ‘global prestige’

The treasury benches also targeted the Opposition over the “inherent contradictions” and “lack of trust” between the parties in the newly formed INDIA coalition.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh, said, “The ongoing ethnic clash in Manipur was not born today. It is a result of your (Congress) years of negligence. Manipur had the maximum number of insurgent groups. But since Modiji became PM, no new militant organisation has come up. More than 8,000 militants have surrendered. Incidents of kidnapping have gone down by 80% and civilian deaths by 97%. There has also been a reduction of 90% in deaths of security force personnel and 76% in insurgency incidents.”

He also invoked national pride on the issue of Manipur.

“You sometimes want to oppose the government but end up opposing the country. Someone said the European Parliament has condemned the Manipur incident. Do you like this? You think the country has been so weakened that foreigners will teach us what to do? Those days are gone. Under Modiji, India will chart its own course. No country can interfere in our internal matters. Today, the diaspora proudly holds the national flag and wants to associate with us. India’s prestige has risen,” he said.

Earlier, countering Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi’s attack against Modi for his silence on Manipur, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, the first speaker from the ruling party, said the Congress had forgotten the atrocities that took place under its governments in the N-E states.

He did not speak much on Manipur nor countered Gogoi’s charges against the BJP on the issue of Manipur, but highlighted the advances made under the Modi government and focused on “exposing” the “contradictions” between the parties in the INDIA bloc.

Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane, while attacking Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, said, “Hindutva is being talked about. When they… went with Sharad Pawar in 2019, didn’t they remember Hindutva? The tiger roar of the Shiv Sena has been reduced to a cat’s meow. They have no aukaat to criticise the PM. You make any comments on the PM or Amit Shah ji, then I will show you your aukaat.”

Rijiju spoke at length about how the North-East had progressed under the Modi government.

“When Congress had its government, we used to plead here in Parliament that please pay attention to the North-East, even though then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was an MP from the region. At that time, no discussion was ever held in this House. You do not want to see the past and just want to mislead people,” he said.

He underlined how coming from Arunachal Pradesh, he was given key postings under the Modi government and became the first ever tribal law minister in the country.

“I am a minority, but Modiji never made me feel like one. Today, wherever I stand, that place becomes India’s mainstream. People used to say the North-East has to be brought into the mainstream. Today, every part of the country is India’s mainstream,” he said.

Rijiju recalled how the Congress governments had slapped the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in much of the North-East. “We have reduced the geographical spread by 75%.”

It was the Modi government, he said, which first took serious cognisance of racial crimes against people from the North-East in Delhi.

“Earlier, when crimes against students from the North-East used to happen in Delhi, they were brushed under the carpet. This changed after 2014. We formed a special cell in Delhi Police to deal with such cases and 1,000 people from the North-East were recruited in Delhi Police. Since then, such incidents have stopped,” Rijiju said.

He also countered Opposition criticism of the government not doing enough to counter China.

“During the India-China war, when Arunachal was taken over by China, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, ‘My heart goes out to the people of Assam’. Meaning, he couldn’t do anything. What he should have said is do not worry, we will get every inch of land back. You keep saying the Chinese have built villages in Arunachal. These areas were actually given away to China by the Congress party in 1959,” Rijiju said.

He gave a detailed description of border infrastructure projects completed by the Modi government.

“Today, India’s image is rising fast in the world. The entire world accepts the leadership of Narendra Modi. Across the country, G20 meetings are being held. The world believes that Narendra Modi is leading the country towards becoming a developed nation in 2047. At such a time, instead of standing with Modiji, they are bringing no-confidence motion? You do not want to see India as a developed nation?” he said.

Earlier, citing Modi’s morning remark at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, Dubey said it was not a no-confidence motion against the BJP government but it has been brought by the Opposition to test the confidence of its own alliance members in each other.

“I am sure, if you ask many of the members in this group, which calls itself INDIA, many would not know the full form of the acronym,” he said.

Taking names of the INDIA bloc partners one by one, he recalled that almost all of them – from the DMK to RJD to TMC – had been at the receiving end of the Congress party’s power politics in the past.

Sunita Duggal, BJP MP from Sirsa, said, “No matter what coalition they (Opposition parties) stitch up, they will not be successful. People have lost trust in them. What Modiji predicts comes true. He said in 2018 that they will bring a no-confidence motion against him, and they have brought it in 2023. Now he has said we will form the government in 2024 and it will happen… Now Uniform Civil Code is our target. We will bring it soon.”