New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday slammed the opposition majority in the Rajya Sabha blocking his government’s plans for the past five years for ushering in a New India fulfilling aspirations of the people.
"Don’t continue to throttle the overwhelming mandate we got in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said seeking the opposition’s cooperation in supporting the government bills and plans in a 70-minute reply to a 3-day.
Debate in the Rajya Sabha on a motion of thanks to President Ram Nath Kovind for his address to Parliament’s joint session last week that was passed by a voice vote. The Lok Sabha had passed a similar motion on Tuesday.
Modi referred how scores of Bills lapsed because the Rajya Sabha did not clear them, requiring the Lok Sabha to again pass the same Bills, putting unnecessary cost on the nation. He urged the opposition to stop blocking the government business just because it has the majority in the House.
The PM regretted the opposition pushing the nation into "hopelessness" by making fun of every government effort — be it the toilets, cleanliness, Yoga or Make In India and asked it to see the clear message of the mandate that the people have given for a New India and they are not ready to go back to the old systems.
He also came down heavily on the Congress and other parties for continuing to express doubts over the electronic voting machines (EVMs) despite they getting a positive verdict from all courts.
Asking them to stop blaming the EVMs for their defeat, he said EVMs have been used to conduct four Lok Sabha elections and the elections of 117 state assemblies.
Modi regretted that the Congress has no guts to accept defeat, nor is it ready to accept the victories through the EVM voting as in Madhya Pradesh.
Pointing out that the poll reforms have been going on since the first election in 1952, he advanced his case for "one nation, one poll”, pleading for a debate at least with open mind and then decide whether to go for it or not.
