‘PM Modi preaches consensus, values confrontation’, says Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi claimed that Narendra Modi's third term was not part of the electoral outcome as there is no evidence to prove it.
Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi hit out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government over issues ranging from NEET-UG paper leak or Manipur ethnic violence, saying that the latter "valued confrontation" even though he preaches the "value of consensus".
In an editorial in The Hindu, also shared by party president Mallikarjun Kharge on his X handle, Gandhi claimed that Narendra Modi's third term was not part of the electoral outcome as there is no evidence to prove it. "The Prime Minister continues as if nothing has changed. He preaches the value of consensus but continues to value confrontation," she said.
The Rajya Sabha MP further slammed the Centre for frequent confrontations and fiery exchanges over the deputy speaker post and the NEET issue in the first session of the Parliament after the 2024 general elections.
{{/usCountry}}The Rajya Sabha MP further slammed the Centre for frequent confrontations and fiery exchanges over the deputy speaker post and the NEET issue in the first session of the Parliament after the 2024 general elections.
{{/usCountry}}"The first few days of the 18th Lok Sabha have sadly been far from encouraging. Any hope that we might see a changed attitude has been dashed. This perfectly reasonable request was found unacceptable by a regime that had not filled the Constitutional position of Deputy Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha," she further said.
{{/usCountry}}"The first few days of the 18th Lok Sabha have sadly been far from encouraging. Any hope that we might see a changed attitude has been dashed. This perfectly reasonable request was found unacceptable by a regime that had not filled the Constitutional position of Deputy Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha," she further said.
{{/usCountry}}In NDA's first term from 2014-2019, AIADMK'S M Thambidurai, served as the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha, while the post was vacant between 2019-2024.
{{/usCountry}}In NDA's first term from 2014-2019, AIADMK'S M Thambidurai, served as the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha, while the post was vacant between 2019-2024.
{{/usCountry}}Gandhi questioned the Prime Minister's silence on the NEET paper leak case, saying that the incident wreaked havoc on the lives of lakhs of aspiring students.
{{/usCountry}}Gandhi questioned the Prime Minister's silence on the NEET paper leak case, saying that the incident wreaked havoc on the lives of lakhs of aspiring students.
{{/usCountry}}"The Prime Minister who does his 'Pariksha pe Charcha' has been conspicuously silent on the leaks that have devastated so many families across the country," she said.
The former Congress president further hit out at the BJP for intentionally raking up the Emergency, which was imposed by the then Indira Gandhi Congress government in June 1975. Gandhi said the NDA government dredged up the issue to divert attention from the assault on the Constitution.
"It is a fact of history that in March 1977, the people of our country gave a categorical verdict on the Emergency, which was accepted unhesitatingly and unequivocally. That, less than three years later, the party that was humbled in March 1977 was returned to power, with a majority never achieved by Modi and his party, is also very much part of that history," she said.
Gandhi further said it was "astonishing" that it was raked up even by the Lok Sabha Speaker, "whose position is incompatible with any public political stance other than one of strict impartiality".
President Droupadi Murmu also invoked the emergency incident during her address to a joint sitting of Parliament, calling it the "darkest chapter" and a "direct attack on the Constitution."
The grand old party leader further attacked PM Modi for remaining silent and not visiting the communal violence-hit Manipur since the clashes broke out in the state in May 2023.
"Social harmony in this most sensitive state has been shattered. Yet, the Prime Minister has not found either the time or the inclination to visit the state nor to meet with its political leaders," the Rajya Sabha MP said.
