New Delhi
In his over-90-minute reply, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday shred into the assertions of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on various counts even while terming the remark on President Droupadi Murmu by her mother, Congress MP Sonia Gandhi, being an outcome of “distorted mindset”.
With Rahul Gandhi often targeting the Government for neglecting the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBC) and demanding a caste census, which has the backing of other Opposition leaders too, Modi came out with a counter that stumped all.
“Our government has worked to ensure that SCs, STs, and OBCs receive maximum opportunities in every sector. Today, I want to pose a question before the citizens of this country—one that will spark discussions not only in homes but also at public squares. Has there ever been a time when a single SC family had three MPs in Parliament simultaneously? Let me ask another question: Has there ever been a single ST family with three MPs in the same term?”
His questions were aimed at the three Gandhi family members. While Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are MPs from Amethi and Wayanad respectively, Sonia Gandhi is a Rajya Sabha MP.
At the same time, he presented a statistically-laced fact. PM Modi said that 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. Before 2014, there were 7700 SC seats in medical colleges; now the number is 17000. For OBCs, from 14000, the number of medical seats has gone up to 32,000.”
The Prime Minister also did not miss out to hit out at the Gandhi family for their remarks on President Droupadi Murmu and her speech while addressing the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Controversy erupted after a video Sonia Gandhi reacting on the speech by the President went viral. “The poor lady, the President, was getting very tired by the end…she could hardly speak poor thing,” she was heard saying. Rahul chipped in terming the speech “boring”.
Their remarks prompted a strong response from the BJP which termed them as “deeply disrespectful” and sought an apology from them even as a section of BJP MPs have written to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar seeking a privilege motion against Sonia Gandhi.
Speaking on the issue, Modi said: “A woman President is being humiliated. I can understand the political frustration…but what is the reason why the President is being insulted? Today, India is moving ahead leaving this kind of distorted mentality and taking the mantra of women-led development forward… If half of the population gets the full opportunity, then India can move ahead at twice the speed. And this belief of mine has become stronger after working in the field for several years.”
The Rashtrapati Bhavan has termed the remarks ‘unacceptable’ and ‘entirely unavoidable’. “These leaders have said that the President was getting very tired by the end and she could hardly speak. Rashtrapati Bhavan would like to clarify that nothing could be farther from the truth. The President was not tired at any point. Indeed, she has believed that speaking up for the marginalized communities, for women and farmers, as she was doing during the course of her address, can never be tiring,” read an official statement.
For his part, Modi further said: It had become fashion for some people to talk about caste, the PM said that for the past 30 to 35 years, MPs from across parties were demanding constitutional status for the OBC Commission. “Those who talk about it now did not remember it then, but we gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission,” Modi said.
Taking a jibe at Rahul, Modi said, “Those who have photo sessions in the huts of the poor, for their own entertainment, will find the mention of the poor in Parliament boring. I can understand their anger.” He pointed out that his government had given the Muslim women their rights by ending ‘triple talaq’.
He further said that some people were speaking “the language of urban Naxals these days”. “To resist the Indian state is the language of naxals. Those who speak this language can understand neither the constitution nor national unity,” the Prime Minister said.
