PM Modi made a strong rebuttal of Rahul Gandhi's speech during the debate in Parliament yesterday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a sharp attack on the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi in a
Parliament speech today, but also reached out to the Opposition saying, "Let us walk shoulder to shoulder".
"I am new, you are experienced. Come, let us work together for the country," PM Modi said, as he replied to a discussion on the President's address in the Lok Sabha.
He, however, pulled no punches as he made a strong rebuttal of Rahul Gandhi's speech during the debate yesterday, taking the Congress Vice President on for his allegation that the Modi government has had to fall back upon the Congress' flagship rural employment scheme MGNREGA after criticising it.
Mr Gandhi was referring to a big outlay by the BJP government for the scheme in the Budget presented this week. PM Modi tore into the Congress, blaming what he called its "60 years of misgovernance" for the country's deep-rooted poverty.
"I realised after coming here how deep-rooted the poverty is. I said last time too that no one can deny that if we had done welfare for the poor in the country in the last 60 years of rule, they wouldn't have to carry mud or dig ditches. MNREGA is not our success. All of us will have to accept it," the PM said.
Unlike
Mr Gandhi in his speech yesterday, Mr Modi did not once name his political rival, but it was very clear who he meant when he said, "
Some people grow older, but not wiser." He also recalled how the Congress leader had, in 2013, talked about tearing up an ordinance or executive order issued by the government of his own party in the presence of reporters.
"The ordinance was torn apart when the then honourable prime minister Manmohan Singh was in the US to meet (Barack) Obama...Please learn to respect elders," PM Modi said. Rahul Gandhi sat across the hall in the opposition benches, listening.
BJP lawmakers thumped their desks and the opposition booed; PM Modi added, "It is easy to advise, difficult to practice."
Prime Minister Modi said he was being criticised because the Congress was "jealous that his "government has done in two years what they didn't in 60 years".
Lamenting at length the frequent disruption of Parliament by the opposition, the Prime Minister alleged, in another dig at the main opposition party, that that it was "
inferiority complex" that led it to ensure that good speakers from other parties did not get a chance to shine in Parliament.