"PM praised his govt and attacked Congress in his speech": Shashi Tharoor

On being asked about two important points found in the speech of PM, Tharoor, while speaking with ANI, said, "There are two broad categories of issues that appear--praising the achievements of his government and attacking the Congress party. It's not surprising that you get into politics even at this level..."

Coming down heavily on Modi for not discussing issues important to people, Tharoor said, "One thing that concerns all of us is the issues he did not address. There was no reference to unemployment. There was no reference in his speech to the problems that ordinary people are facing because of inflation. There was no reference to Manipur. We are very concerned about it as it is a part of our country that is bleeding."

He added further, "There was no mention of the India-China border, where unfortunately, in the course of this government, a disadvantageous situation developed across the Line of Actual Control where several patrolling units that Indian Army was able to patrol in the past, are no longer accessible. So all of these suggest that we are on the back foot in a number of areas and the government doesn't want to talk about it. The PM's failures to address these matters remain a matter of concern. Politics took a prime place in PM's calculation as to what to say."

Notably, Narendra Modi on Wednesday affirmed that the central government is making efforts to normalise the situation in the north-eastern state of Manipur, which has been witnessing ethnic violence since last year. The Prime Minister was replying to the debate on 'Motion of Thanks' on the President's address in the Rajya Sabha.

On Rahul Gandhi's speech in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor praised his speech and asserted that what Rahul Gandhi did was a very effective attack on the underpinnings of the BJP government and their ideology of Hindutva. "This is something that Rahul Gandhi has been doing politically for some time but doing it in Parliament as LoP had a tremendous impact on other Parliamentarians. There's no question that it was a tremendous debut performance by the LoP."

He added, "When you look at the statement that the BJP is objecting to, it was very clear in context what he was saying... He said very clearly pointing to the people on the other side, the BJP and RSS, that some who call themselves Hindus are going around spreading hatred and intolerance across the country and even violence across the country. He did not say that all Hindus are doing this, as implied by the BJP. Even in the course of the speech when the PM stood up, he immediately said the BJP does not represent all Hindus and the RSS does not represent all Hindus..."

Rahul Gandhi's maiden speech in the Lok Sabha as a Leader of the Opposition in the House drew massive criticism from the BJP. The Congress leader said, "Those who call themselves Hindus indulge in hate and violence round the clock".

Expressing his views on the NEET-UG controversy going on in the country, the Congress MP asserted that the party made it clear that they wanted a discussion on this matter as "the lives, future, expectation, preparation, hard work of students has been placed in peril by the government's attitude"... He added further, "I also hope there will be no paper leak in the future The paper leak culture, which has unfortunately, affected a number of north-Indian states is terrible. It gives an unfair advantage to criminal elements and penalises the genuine hardworking students. The government must take some steps..."

Tharoor also spoke about the new criminal laws that came into effect on July 1 and said, "Our concern on new criminal laws is that it was passed in Parliament without discussion. We feel that in some respects, the criminal laws are worse with respect to the old colonial laws. In some respects, there are improvements. It is important to overcome the colonial legacy and have new laws but it should have been done with much more consultation with the opposition parties."

The three new criminal laws- the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), came into effect today. Under this the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been replaced with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the CrPC with Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Indian Evidence Act has been replaced with the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. These laws had received the assent by President Droupadi Murmu on December 25, 2023. (ANI)