Opposition leaders on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address in the Lok Sabha with Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stating it seemed from his speech that he has lost his connect with people and their needs.
Replying to the two-day discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the president's address, Prime Minister Modi hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying those speaking of fighting the Indian state can appreciate neither the Constitution nor national unity as he launched a counter-offensive in Lok Sabha against the Opposition.
Asked about the PM's remarks, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said, "I think he has lost his connect with people and their needs. This is what it seemed from his speech." Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also hit out at Modi, saying he made a "typical election speech".
"It was a typical election speech with the Delhi elections tomorrow. Just a long laundry list of things the government has done. What is surprising is that, the opposition had raised very specific criticisms of the president's address and those criticisms were not answered by the prime minister," Tharoor said.
"There were a few political statements which I think the nation could have done without, there are very many avenues for politics, this is about the president's address to the nation, agenda of the nation and the response of the prime minister, that was unfortunately missing," the Congress leader told PTI outside Parliament.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav expressed disappointment with no mention of the Kumbh stampede.
"It is very saddening that when such a big incident has happened in Kumbh…It is not about the opposition, the whole country saw the incident that had happened in Kumbh. The government was earlier hiding figures of injured and those who have been deceased and now no homage was paid today, I had requested for two-minute silence," he said.
Taking a dig at the PM, Yadav said he has concern for toys but his government does not care for lives of people.
TMC MP Saugata Roy said that he was very dissatisfied with the PM's speech.
"He (Modi) made a repetition of what the president had said in her speech. He did not answer a single question raised by the opposition. For instance, about the number of deaths in the Kumbh, about our technological deficit vis-a-vis China, the situation in Bangladesh where Bengali Hindus are in a problem," he said.
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