“Facts gave way to fiction in the President’s address to Parliament,” Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. He accused the government of abrogating its moral responsibility of dealing with the “constitutional and political crisis” in the country.
Taking part in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to Parliament, he said the “government was dividing the country into “Hindus vs Muslims”, “us vs they” “Ramzade vs I won’t say”.
“The present dispensation is abrogating its moral responsibility of dealing with the constitutional and political crisis facing the country,” he said, adding that government schemes should really be named as “sit-down India, shutdown India and shut-up India”.
The government was paying “lip service” to Skill India, Digital India and Startup India, and no mention was made of Standup India as “you are so busy banning stand-up comedians”, he said, referring to a flying ban on stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra.
Raising the issue of “prolonged” detention of leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, he said the country had seen the largest number of Internet shutdowns, including that in the Valley.
National Conference member Hasnain Masoodi said the dilution of Article 370 and revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status were a historic blunder. The decision did not help to curb militancy. “The basic value of truthfulness was murdered,” he said.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP government talked about ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’, but it neither took everyone along, nor did it bring on any development.
Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM asked the Prime Minister to clarify whether the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) were the two sides of the same coin.
Kunwar Danish Ali of the BSP accused the government of treating students shabbily.
