Saptarshi Das, New Delhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not answer any of the Opposition’s questions in his reply to the President’s speech in Parliament and, instead, deflected blame over corruption.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament, Gandhi said, “I just asked him how many times have you met Adani but he said nothing about that. I am not satisfied with the PM’s speech but it reveals the truth. If PM Modi was not his (Adani’s) friend, then he would have called an inquiry over it. But there was no talk of setting up an inquiry. There are defence industries in the shell companies and unregulated money is being circulated, no mention of that was raised by the PM, so it is very clear that the PM is protecting him. This is a very serious matter and I know why the Prime Minister is protecting Adani.”
Terming the Congress-led government’s tenure between 2004 and 2014 “a lost decade”, Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress and called its governance a “scam”.
“The Opposition is busy accusing the Election Commission of India and the electronic voting machines for electoral losses. They criticise the Supreme Court after losing cases. I thought election results would bring such (Opposition) people together on a stage but it didn’t happen. They should thank the ED that due to it they have now come together. Those who are drunk on arrogance and think that only they have the knowledge, feel that only by abusing Modi will a way come out, that only through false, nonsensical mudslinging on Modi will a path be paved. It has been 22 years, they still have a misapprehension,” Modi said in his speech.
Modi’s speech was interrupted several times by the Opposition with slogans of “We want JPC”. As the treasury benches shouted “Modi Modi”, it was met with slogans of “Adani Adani” reverberating in the Lok Sabha.
On Tuesday, Gandhi claimed Adani’s meteoric rise was due to “jaadu” (magic) after the Modi government come to power in 2014. He also wanted to know about the links between Modi and Adani.
