The Union Minister said the Congress should remember what was said to the British: Quit India.
New Delhi: After a flip-flop on when he would speak, Rahul Gandhi launched a blistering attack on the BJP during the no-confidence debate today and said the party had killed Bharat Mata in Manipur. His attack was countered by Union Minister Smriti Irani.
Here are the top 10 updates on this big story
- “I went to Manipur a few days ago. Our Prime Minister didn’t go yet, because, for him, Manipur is not part of India. I am saying Manipur, but the truth today is that there is no Manipur. You have divided Manipur, broken it up. I spoke to women and children in relief camps, which our Prime Minister hasn’t done till date,” Rahul Gandhi said. “Like I said at the beginning of my speech, Bharat is the voice of the people, the voice of their hearts. You have killed that voice in Manipur. That means you have killed Bharat Mata in Manipur. You are anti-national, you are not patriots. You are not the protectors of Bharat Mata, you are her killers,” he added.
- Hitting out at the Congress, Union Minister Smriti Irani said, “You define corruption in India, you define incompetence in India. You are not India, for India is not corrupt. India believes in merit, and not dynasty. Today, of all days, people like you should remember what was told to the British: Quit India. Corruption quit India, dynasty quit India. Merit now finds place in India.”
- Other Union Ministers – Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and Jyotiraditya Scindia are expected to speak in Lok Sabha today. Kiren Rijiju, who participated in the debate yesterday, said the Opposition will regret bringing the No-Confidence Motion because it comes at the “wrong time and the wrong manner”, given India’s current stature in the world.
- The Prime Minister will reply to the debate on Thursday. He chaired the BJP’s Parliamentary Party meeting yesterday ahead of the big vote. Taking a swipe at the INDIA alliance, the Prime Minister reportedly said that this is not a vote to express distrust in the government, but to see who can trust whom in the opposition. “It’s a test of their own internal trust,” he reportedly said.
- In recent weeks, PM Modi has frequently attacked the opposition bloc for calling itself INDIA, accusing the parties, particularly the Congress, of attempting a rebranding to whitewash their past record as the former UPA or United Progressive Alliance.
- Gaurav Gogoi said ‘INDIA’ was forced to bring the No-Confidence Motion against the government to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vow of silence” on Manipur. He alleged that a government which talks about “one India” has created “two Manipurs — one living in the hills and the other in the valley”.
- Home Minister Amit Shah, during a discussion on the Delhi Services bill on Monday, accused the Opposition of running away from a debate on Manipur. “The question is Manipur situation and what steps the government is taking there, not a show of strength by voting. If you want voting, I dare you to make this bill fall through voting,” Mr Shah said.
- The session, which started on July 20, has been continually disrupted by Opposition protests. The opposition contends that in view of the 170-plus deaths, injuries and displacements of thousands of people since the ethnic violence broke out in May, there is nothing more urgent that can demand the Prime Minister’s attention.