Taking a dig at PM Narendra Modi’s silence on the large-scale violence which ravaged Haryana during the Jat reservation stir last week, Opposition Trinamool Congress Friday claimed in Parliament that
Taking a dig at PM Narendra Modi’s silence on the large-scale violence which ravaged Haryana during the Jat reservation stir last week, Opposition Trinamool Congress Friday claimed in Parliament that he was suffering from the “silence syndrome” which had hit his predecessor Manmohan Singh and was facing the problem of “two power centres”, one of them being in Nagpur.
During a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address in Lok Sabha, Sultan Ahmed of the TMC appealed to the Prime Minister to take everyone including the minorities and the Dalits along, reminding Mr Modi that the nationalism propagated by Subhash Chandra Bose was “inclusive”.
Mr Ahmed, whose speech saw occasional protests from the treasury benches, said Mr Modi had come to power raising a lot of expectations but his government had been afflicted with “policy paralysis” within two years, noting that the charge used to be levelled by BJP against the Manmohan Singh regime.
He said it was strange that Mr Modi did not speak a single word on the unprecedented violence and arson in Haryana in the wake of the Jat stir inspite of the fact that the troubled state was 30 km from the capital. Mr Ahmed said the PM boasted of a 56-inch chest, but kept quiet on the Jat youth unrest.
“Manmohan Singh’s weakness of keeping mum has now hit (Mr) Modi”, he claimed adding that the Prime Minister hardly had any time between his frequent foreign tours.
Mr Ahmed said since the Prime Minister kept silent, home minister Rajnath Singh had to step out to hold consultations on the Haryana stir, a charge stoutly denied by the home minister who was present in the House.
The TMC MP said he used to listen to PM’s radio programme “Man Ki Baat in 2014 and 2015, but has stopped now. “Now no one listens to it. It is all bunkum (bakwas)”.
Attacking the government for not fulfilling the promise of providing jobs to the youth, he said the unrest among the youth was growing day by day for want of employment, but hardly anything was being done. The ministry of skill development which is expected to make youths learn more skills is just a “fraud”, he alleged.
Urging the Prime Minister to look after the minorities and the Dalits too, he said Modi, like Manmohan Singh, faces the problem of two power centres.
Mr Modi was one power centre while the other was the RSS in Nagpur which tells others in BJP how much leeway can be granted to the Prime Minister, the TMC member claimed.
