Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday reached out to the opposition for its support to run the government smoothly and invoked late Congress stalwarts and prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi for peaceful functioning of parliament.
In his over an hour-long speech, Modi, however, didn’t speak about raging issues like crackdown on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students and the death of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad University that had stalled parliament for two days earlier this week.
“Parliament is a forum where different view points are put forward, where questions are being asked to the government, where the government is made accountable and nobody is spared,” Modi said.
“And in doing so, it would be great if we uphold parliamentary traditions” and let the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha function “peacefully and responsibly”, he said.
Modi noted this was “not a sermon” but the “words of former Congress prime minister Rajiv Gandhi”.
He also recalled the statements of Nehru, Indira and India’s first president Rajendra Prasad and urged the opposition for its support to pass crucial legislations, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill.
Modi said the opposition was suffering from an “inferiority complex”. “Some people want to oppose for the sake of it. There are such bright MPs in the opposition, but they are not being allowed to speak. Nobody in the opposition must look stronger and this is the inferiority complex.”
However, at the end of his speech, the prime minister toned down his aggression and sought the support of the Congress and other opposition parties to run the government for the sake of the people and the country.
“Let’s walk shoulder-to-shoulder and do something for the country. I am new, you are experienced,” Modi said.
“We need to make an atmosphere of improving trust. If you have suggestions, please do offer. I would like the government to adopt these habits. The government also needs to improve and this would not happen without your support. I need your support. I need you people, your experience.”
In an obvious attack on Rahul Gandhi, Modi returned the barbs the Congress vice president had hurled at him on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha over the prime minister’s reluctance to take the opposition on board over various issues.
“Some people learn with age but some don’t,” Modi said.
He didn’t name Rahul Gandhi but recalled how he had in 2013 torn before reporters a controversial ordinance of the then Congress government on convicted lawmakers when then prime minister Manmohan Singh was visiting the US.
“The ordinance was torn apart when the then honourable prime minister was in the US to meet (Barack) Obama. Please learn to respect elders,” Modi said as Gandhi listened.
MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies thumped their desks in appreciation even as the opposition booed following Modi’s remarks.
Parliament has managed to pass just one bill since the current session began on February 23 due to rowdy protests in the house over the controversial arrest of a JNU student leader last month.
The BJP swept to power in 2014 promising to revive the economy and create much-needed jobs, but has been unable to enact many of its promised reforms.
Although India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, experts say gross domestic product is still not increasing at a fast enough pace to provide employment for a burgeoning young population.
India’s parliament is notoriously rowdy, and Modi’s BJP employed similar tactics to disrupt the former Congress-led government.
Last year more than 20,000 Indians, including prominent business leaders, signed an online petition urging lawmakers to end weeks of rowdy protests that had paralysed parliament.
Just 24 bills have been passed since Modi took over in May 2014, according to PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based think-tank. Another 30 are stuck at the voting stage.