Nadda defends government in Rajya Sabha, counters Opposition’s attacks on economy, education

BJP president J.P. Nadda counters Opposition attacks in Rajya Sabha, highlighting government achievements and questioning Congress's stance on democracy.

Amid continuing attacks from Opposition benches in the Rajya Sabha on the second day of the debate on the Motion to Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu for her address to the joint session of Parliament, the BJP fielded its president, Union Health Minister and leader of the Upper House J.P. Nadda to counter the attack.

Mr. Nadda targeted the Congress and said the party that had imposed Emergency and tried to dilute reservations was now speaking about democracy and protecting reservations.

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Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s statement in the House, in which he said he had been an Ekalavya (disciple) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since he had left the Congress, and that he considered leaders of the RSS as saintly people, was questioned by Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who urged Mr. Dhankar to not spread an ideology from the Chair.

In his speech that lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, Mr. Nadda said the Narendra Modi government had worked to ensure global economic crises did not impact India. He said Mr. Modi had provided support to industries so that the economy remained insulated from external problems. Mr. Nadda said measures such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) had helped small traders and consumers. On defence, he said steps taken by the Centre were making the Army world-class, and the country now had the capacity to make fighter jets. He questioned the Opposition’s stand on democracy and reservation, and said the Congress had opposed B.R. Ambedkar, and did not even allow him to state in Parliament the reason for his resignation from the Cabinet of the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Mr. Nadda also read out a letter by Nehru to the State Chief Ministers, adding that the Congress had never been committed to reservation.

In their speeches, Opposition members took up several issues, including unemployment, paper leaks, and problems in the education sector. Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and senior MP Ram Gopal Yadav said the President’s speech had been silent on rampant corruption. He said the rich had been taking the subsidies meant for the poor. He said even the scheme to provide water taps had not reached villages. He said certain coaching centres scuttled the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and National Eligibility Test (NET) and the government had remained silent. He said banks were giving “huge haircuts” (write-offs) to big industrial houses.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP A.A. Rahim said there had been no mention of unemployment in the President’s speech. The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Raghav Chadha said two IPLs were played in the country — one was the Indian Premier League for cricket, and the second was the “Indian Paper Leak”, and that the National Testing Agency now stood for “No Trust Anymore”.