Modi in state of perpetual denial, making President read lies: Kharge

Kharge said that “overall, Modiji is making a futile attempt to garner some applause by making the Honourable President read lies, which the people of India have rejected in the 2024 elections”.

Although Kharge said he will give a detailed response in his speech in the Rajya Sabha, his post on X said that “whitewashing will not work in the NEET scam”. “In the last 5 years, out of 66 recruitment exams conducted by the NTA, Paper Leaks and Massive Rigging have happened in 12 exams, due to which more than 75 lakh youth have been affected,” he said.

“The Modi govt cannot run away from its responsibility by just simply saying that ‘we should rise above partisan politics’,” he said.

“There is no mention of 5 main issues even once in the entire address,” he said. He claimed that “prices of essential food items have skyrocketed”, “food inflation has been more than 8.5% for 4 months”, “the prices of atta, dal, tomatoes, onions, milk – everything is painstakingly high and household savings are at the lowest level in 50 years. But the word ‘inflation’ is missing from the entire speech.”

On Manipur violence, he said: “221 people have lost their lives in the violence in Manipur… 50,000 people are still homeless. The flames of violence have now spread to peaceful districts like Jiribam, while extortion and kidnappings have increased in the Imphal Valley and other areas. But the BJP CM is still shamelessly clinging to his chair. There has been no concrete initiative for peace and normalcy.”

Under the subhead “horrific train accidents and the plight of passengers in trains”, Kharge said that the “Modi Govt did not mention the West Bengal train accident in the President’s written speech”.

“The government did not learn any lessons even after the gruesome Balasore train tragedy. The much-hyped ‘Kavach’ protection is installed on only 2% of the tracks, while according to the NCRB, there were more than 100,000 deaths related to train accidents between 2017 and 2021,” he said.

On terror attacks in J&K, he said “Modi Govt has endangered our National Security, with 2,262 terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 10 years, resulting in the loss of life of 363 civilians and 596 soldiers”. “In the last few years, there have been targeted attacks on Kashmiri Pandits, but the Prime Minister is singing the false tune of ‘Naya Kashmir’.”

Alluding to the “rising atrocities on Dalits, Adivasis and Minorities in BJP-ruled states”, Kharge said that “during the elections, Shri Modi’s speeches have repeatedly confirmed the fact that the BJP/RSS’s ideology is only to divide the society. In BJP-ruled states like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, after the Modi Govt came to power, incidents of mob lynching, mobocracy, communal violence and illegal ‘Bulldozer Justice’ to the houses of the poor have risen unabated. The ruling party cannot maintain a stoic silence on this.”

Among other opposition leaders, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the government’s claim of India being the fifth-largest economy in the world.

“The story that is being told about India becoming the fifth-largest economy… has it made our farmers prosperous? If we are the fifth-largest economy, then why are so many youths unemployed?” he said.

On the mention of Emergency in Murmu’s address, he said, “What did the BJP do for the people who were in jail during the Emergency? The SP gave them respect and pensions.”

TMC MP Mahua Moitra said, “The government’s problem is they are not yet able to understand that they have come to 240 from 303. They prepared the speech based on the majority of 303.” With PTI inputs