PM Modi’s Reply To No-Confidence Motion Today; ‘Jayalalithaa’s Saree Was Pulled In Assembly’: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the no-confidence motion moved against his government by the Opposition INDIA bloc over Manipur violence, in the Lok Sabha around 4 pm on Thursday.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has also requested for a discussion under Rule 167 on the violence in Manipur with Modi joining the debate. “I request you to let a discussion happen under Rule 167. Let Prime Minister come, we will keep our issues in front of him,” Kharge told Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.

As this lead to protests from the Treasury Benches, the Congress president added: “What will happen if PM comes? Is he God? This is Parliament… he’s no God.”

Participating in the debate earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman invoked how late Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa was humiliated in the state assembly in 1989 while hitting back at DMK MP Kanimozhi, who had compared Manipuri women, who were stripped and paraded naked, to Draupadi.

“I agree that women suffering anywhere – Manipur, Delhi, Rajasthan – will have to be taken seriously. No politics played. But I want to remind this entire House of one incident which happened on 25th March 1989 in Tamil Nadu Assembly. Then she hadn’t become CM, Jayalalithaa’s saree was pulled in Tamil Nadu in the Assembly. She was the LoP. The DMK members who were seated there, heckled her and laughed at her…Has DMK forgotten Jayalalithaa? You pulled her saree, you demeaned her. That day Jayalalithaa took an oath that she will never come to the House unless she becomes the CM. Two years later, she returned as the CM of Tamil Nadu…”

Taking a swipe at the Opposition, Sitharaman said that the people moved no confidence against UPA in 2014 and 2019 and defeated them. “The situation will be the same in 2024. The Home Minister had questioned the need to change the name of UPA?…They have an amazing unity. It is tough to understand if they are fighting against each other or together…”

“Karnataka’s Health Minister came to Delhi to see the mohalla clinics here. He came and said that there is nothing special in them and we are disappointed. This is one of the examples of their fight.”

Continuing her tirade against the UPA, she said it wasted an entire decade because there was a lot of corruption and cronyism. “Today, every crisis and adversity has been changed into a reform and an opportunity. Banks are able to work without political interference, they are working with professional integrity. ‘Banks mein failaya hua aapka raita hum saaf kar rahe hai’.”

On NDA government’s achievement in 9 years, she said: “Words like ‘banega, milega’ are not in use anymore. What are the people using these days? ‘Ban gaye, mil gaye, aa gaye’. During UPA, people said ‘Bijli aayegi’, now people say ‘Bijli aa gayi’. They said ‘gas connection milega’, now ‘gas connection mil gaya’…They said airport ‘banega’, now airport ‘ban gaya’…”

While acknowledging operationalisation of DBT by UPA, Sitharaman said that only Rs 7,367 crore, however, was transferred in 2013-14 and the amount increased 5 times by 2014-15 itself. “In the last Financial Year, Rs 7.16 lakh crores have been transferred through DBT, which has set an example for the rest of the world.”

“Transformation comes through actual delivery, and not through spoken words. You show dreams to people. We make their dreams a reality. We believe in empowering all and appeasement of none,” she further said.

The FM said that there is a need to understand the Indian economy from the perspective of what is happening globally, which has grown by 3% in 2022 and is likely to decline to 2.1% in 2023 as per the World Bank forecast. India is in a rare position of being optimistic and positive about its future growth. “The same Morgan Stanley that had listed India among the five most fragile economies in 2013 has now upgraded the Indian economy and has given it a higher rating. In just 9 years, the economy rose and saw economic development due to the policies of our government despite COVID. Today, we are the fastest growing economy of the world,” the Minister said.

She informed that NCCF is planning a mega-sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR at a subsidised rate of Rs 70/kg this weekend and covering all nooks and corners of Delhi. “As on date, NCCF has distributed 8,84,612 kgs of tomatoes in Rajasthan, Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh & this will continue in the coming days and this will be increased also…Already the prices of tomatoes in the wholesale mandis in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have started coming down below Rs 100 and we expect this to help us. As of today, we have booked tomatoes through Kolar mandi – coming to Delhi at Rs 85/kg…We have also initiated imports from Nepal by removing the import restrictions and the first lot of tomatoes from Nepal are likely to reach Varanasi, Kanpur by Friday itself.”

Regarding Sengol, Sitharaman said, “…When PM Modi restored it (Sengol) to its rightful place in Lok Sabha, that became an issue, that is an insult of the Tamils. The Sengol was ignored for decades. The Sengol was lost in history and kept in some museum. The Kashi Tamil Sangamam showed how Tamil Nadu and Kashi have very deep connections. The first time you heard Tamil being quoted in the United Nations. In ‘Mann ki Baat’, PM has used Tamil so many times”

Notably, Congress, NCP and DMK MPs staged a walk-out from the Lok Sabha as the FM spoke on the motion.

(With ANI inputs)