New Delhi: A day ahead of assembly elections in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (February 4), in an apparent reference to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government had not built a “sheesh mahal”, and alleged that some parties had become “aapda” (disaster) to the future of the youth.
In a separate apparent reference to leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi, Modi also accused the opposition of “speaking the language of urban naxals and declaring a war against the Indian state”.
“Earlier, the headlines in newspapers used to be about scams of various lakhs. Ten years have passed, there have been no scams, and crores of rupees have been saved which have been used to serve the public. We have taken various measures to save lakhs of crores but we have not used that money to build a ‘sheesh mahal’. Instead we have used that money to build the nation,” said Modi in the Lok Sabha.
The BJP has in its election campaign and earlier, accused former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of misusing public money to turn his official residence into a “sheesh mahal” (glass palace) during his tenure, after having initially said that he would live humbly.
On January 7, the AAP and the BJP tussled over official residences in Delhi as the former agreed to show the chief minister’s residence and demanded that the BJP show Modi’s official residence while referring to it as “Raj Mahal”. In the last leg of the campaign, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi too accused Kejriwal of living in a ‘Sheesh Mahal’.
While speaking in the Lok Sabha, Modi, without naming AAP, accused opposition parties of becoming “aapda” for the country’s youth – a term used by the BJP in the campaign speeches in the national capital, where it routinely referred to the AAP as “AAPda”.
“We have been working continuously for the future of the youth. But there are a few parties who are deceiving the youth. These parties make fake promises during elections but do not fulfil them. These parties are ‘aapda’ on the future of the youth,” said Modi in the Lok Sabha.
“The way we work has been seen in Haryana. We had promised jobs ‘bina kharchi, bina parchi’. After forming the government in Haryana we have given jobs to the youth. We have won for the third time in Haryana. We have scripted history in Haryana by winning a third term. In Maharashtra too we have secured a historic victory. This has happened with the blessings of the people,” Modi added.
‘Urban naxals declaring war against Indian state’
In his speech, Modi also accused opposition members of “speaking the language of urban naxals and declaring a war against the Indian state” in an apparent reference to leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi’s speech last month.
“It is the misfortune of the country that these days some people are openly speaking the language of urban naxal and what urban naxals say – standing against the Indian State – they can neither understand the Constitution nor the unity of the nation,” said Modi.
“The BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of the country. We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian state itself,” Gandhi had said last month.
Modi in his speech in the Lok Sabha, without naming Gandhi, said that some people speak on foreign policy to appear mature “even if it causes harm to the country”.
“A few people think that if they don’t speak on foreign policy they won’t appear mature. They think that they should definitely speak on foreign policy, even if it causes harm to the country,” said Modi.
“I would like to tell such people – if they have a real interest in the subject of foreign policy, if they want to understand it and want to do something going ahead.. they should definitely read a book that will make them understand what to say and where. The book is called JFK’s Forgotten Crisis on John F. Kennedy. This book has been written by a famous foreign policy scholar and it mentions important events. In this book, India’s first prime minister Nehru, who also looked after foreign policy, has been mentioned. This book speaks in detail about the discussions between Pandit Nehru and the then US President, John F Kennedy about how when the country was facing several challenges, what game was being played in the name of foreign policy,” he said.
During his speech in the Lok Sabha in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, Gandhi had alleged that Chinese troops continue to remain in Indian territory, leading to protests from Treasury benches.
“The prime minister has denied it and the Army has contradicted the prime minister that China is sitting on 4,000 sq km of our territory,” Gandhi had said.
“You cannot make such false statements on foreign policy,” Union minister for parliamentary affairs Kiren Rijiju had said as he interjected him.