Attacking the Congress for its 65 years of "misrule", the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on said it was unthinkable that a national party has to be welcomed as a "regional party" in the Lok Sabha but promised to take the opposition party along in the decision-making process.
"We never imagined that we will have to welcome a national party as a regional party in this House...What prompted this to happen? Why this mandate?...People have punished you for your misrule for 65 years," BJP member Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, initiating a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.
His remarks triggered protests from opposition benches, with Rudy saying that since there was no Leader of the Opposition, the Congress would not be able to participate in decision-making on major issues like appointment of the chief vigilance commissioner, the Central Bureau of Investigation director or Lokpal.
Earlier, Sushma Swaraj (as the leader of the opposition) used to give her views, but the then prime minister used to have his way. But we will not leave you behind, we will take you along. We will listen to all. This is our promise. Our prime minister (Narendra Modi) is large-hearted," Rudy said.
He, however, said the Congress party's suggestions would not be accepted "if you give suggestions which reflect the way in which you had been running the country for 65 years".
As the din continued, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan appealed for order and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu urged members not to create any disturbance, as it was "the first working day" of the session.
To this, some Congress members shouted, "You never allowed anyone to speak earlier."
The Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist members were also on their feet, with some of them urging the Speaker to direct Rudy to speak on the Motion and not digress.
With protests continuing, the Speaker said, "This is not the way. So many new members have come and some have returned after a few years. Please speak when you are given the chance. Such interruptions are not correct."
Rudy said the BJP got a huge mandate due to the painstaking efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who travelled more than three lakh km and attended 440 rallies and directly talked to 25 crore people.
"With this much travel, the prime minister could have travelled seven times around the globe," he said.
The BJP leader said the Lok Sabha election has showed that his party has been growing manifold in many states, including West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
"In Uttar Pradesh, we have received 42 per cent votes in comparison to 17 per cent earlier," he said.
Rudy said the Modi government will work for providing food to poor, jobs to the unemployed, relief to the middle class by controlling price rise and there will be no harassment of businessmen in the name of tax.
He said the last government was working for hardly 20 or 30 crore people while nearly 100 crore people were outside the ambit of all development schemes and promised that the National Democratic Alliance government will cover all those people who were left out so far.
Flagging sectors like power, tourism and railways as the priority sectors for the new government, Rudy said maximum emphasis will be given to produce electricity as much as possible, introduce innovative ways to attract more tourists to India and construct dedicated railway tracks for bullet trains.
"China has shown excellent results in all these sectors by producing 1,00,000 MW power every year, introducing more and more bullet trains and attracting huge number of tourists," he said.
Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends a session of the Lok Sabha. Photograph: PTI
