New Delhi: Opposition Friday dismissed President Droupadi Murmu’s address to a joint sitting of Parliament as “directionless” and a “document of lies” even as ruling BJP and allies welcomed it saying it presents a vision for ‘viksit Bharat’.
The Opposition said the President’s address should provide a direction to the country but this was just a document of government propaganda.
“This is a directionless speech, no new direction was shown to the nation. Old schemes of the government were repeated, so it appeared that the President was tired of speaking. There was nothing in the speech,” Trinamool Congress’ Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy told reporters outside Parliament.
Congress’ Rajya Sabha member Randeep Singh Surjewala said the speech failed to provide any direction to the nation.
“The President’s address should provide a direction to the country, but it was just a document of government propaganda. She mentioned Kumbh, but should the government’s responsibility not be fixed? Did she give any vision on controlling price rise?” he told reporters outside Parliament.
“She did not mention that the poorest 50 per cent pay 64 per cent of the GST, and ten per cent richest people pay five per cent GST. She did not name China, which is occupying land in Ladakh. She did not talk about wealth inequality,” Surjewala said.
Samajwadi Party chief and Lok Sabha member Akhilesh Yadav said the President should have spoken on how much money is being spent on the Maha Kumbh.
“The President should have given information about how much money has been spent on Kumbh, how much more assistance the central government is going to give. Central government is saying there will be trade worth Rs 2,00,000 crore… Has Kumbh been organised to do business?” he told reporters outside Parliament.
His party colleague and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav called the speech a “document of lies”.
“This is a document of lies. The real situation of the country is not reflected in the speech. Where do we stand in the Global Hunger Index? We are in the category of countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tanzania,” he said.
CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar said the speech is only another addition to “disparaging speeches delivered by the President of India continuously during these years”.
“There was no vision, no plan for the future, simply repeating the claims made by the government of India,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha suggested that the President should be able to express her own views rather than reading from a document prepared by the government.
“I would only say we should start a new tradition, the President should be able to express her own views, not just the rhetorical things the government has written. The President knows how deep the pain of unemployment is, how low is communal harmony, how income inequality is affecting this country… Manipur is still burning,” he said.
NDA ally Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union minister Chirag Paswan meanwhile welcomed the address.
“The President’s address highlighted how over the last ten years, India has achieved new heights in the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. The gap between rich and poor has been decreased through various schemes… All this was mentioned by the President in her speech,” he said.
BJP’s Brijmohan Agrawal said the speech presented the vision for ‘Viksit Bharat’.
“The President’s address talks about the achievements of the Modi government in 11 years. It talks about the schemes for the poor, farmers, youth, backward classes, SC, ST communities, and the vision for creating ‘Viksit Bharat’,” the Lok Sabha MP said.
Fellow BJP Lok Sabha member Sambit Patra also lauded the speech and slammed former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for referring to President Murmu as a “poor thing”.
“It is a historic day, President Murmu has given a vision for the future of the country, the whole country heard her speech and appreciated it. Sadly, Sonia Gandhi ji, former president of the Congress, the kind of comment she made for the president is not right,” he said.
“She said the President was tired, and called her ‘poor thing’. We want to say she is not a ‘poor thing’. We are the biggest democracy, the first citizen, a tribal woman, she can never be a ‘poor thing’, she is strong and empowered,” he said.
Addressing both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha chamber, Murmu earlier said the nation was witnessing major decisions and policies being implemented at an extraordinary speed, with the highest priority given to the poor, the middle class, the youth, women, and farmers.
She said the pace of work has tripled in the third term of her government which has worked with strong determination to lift the economy out of the state of “policy paralysis”.
PTI
