NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday came down heavily on the Opposition over the continued disruptions and ruckus in Parliament over the Manipur issue, claiming that their conduct suggests that they have decided to remain in the Opposition.
Addressing the BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting earlier on Tuesday, PM Modi said, “From the Opposition’s conduct, it seems that they have decided to remain in the Opposition. We have to work in the interest of the public and move forward.”
He added that India’s image has been elevated before the world and the BJP will keep putting in the hard yards in this direction.
“Today, India’s image before the world has improved significantly and we are committed to keep working in this direction,” PM Modi added at the BJP meeting.
He further said that the government, under his leadership, will work to make India a ‘developed nation’ by the end of the ‘Amrit Kaal’ — 2047.
“By 2047, we will make India a developed country,” he said.
Also lashing out at the Opposition, senior BJP leader and former Union minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was poised to return to power in 2024.
Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, Prasad said, “We are well on course to return to power in 2024. The country has set high hopes on us and the Opposition alliance knows it is not coming to power. This sad and tired Opposition will disintegrate further.”
The former Union minister informed further that PM Modi, during his address at the BJP meet, also took a dig at the Opposition over the name I.N.D.I.A.
“PM Modi said like the East India Company, the Indian National Congress was also founded by a foreigner. He said even the Indian Mujahideen and People’s Front of India (PFI) have the word India in them,” Prasad, the former Law Minister, said.
Meanwhile, on the suspension of AAP MP Sanjay Singh from the Rajya Sabha, BJP Lok Sabha member Manoj Tiwari compared his conduct in the Upper House with that of a street ruffian.
“This is how the ruffians from the streets behave when they get a chance to enter the Upper House,” Tiwari said.
The BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting began earlier, on Tuesday, to chalk out a strategy to counter the Opposition’s ruckus in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.
The meeting also featured discussions on crucial organisational matters with party MPs.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned on Monday amidst uproarious scenes with the Opposition demanding a statement from the Prime Minister on the violence in Manipur.
The first two days of the monsoon session last week saw a similar ruckus leading to almost no business in both Houses.
Significantly the members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A), also held a meeting on Tuesday at the office of Congress national president and the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge to chalk out a floor management strategy before the Upper House goes into session.
The Monsoon Session, which began on July 20, with a long list of legislative businesses on the agenda, has seen repeated adjournments in the face of Opposition protests, sloganeering, and ruckus by members of the fledgling grand Opposition alliance over its demand for a statement from PM Modi on the Manipur situation. (ANI)