Hinduism to Manipur, his party’s numbers to Constitution: Key takeaways from PM Modi’s replies in Parliament

IF THERE were any doubts that the BJP, which has come to power well short of a majority, and the Opposition would have smoother relations in this Parliament, these were settled during the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.

While Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s attacks on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were met with an uproar inside and outside the House by the BJP, followed by the expunction of large parts of his speech by the Speaker, Modi himself led a no-holds-barred counter in his reply to the Motion.

After a nearly 2.5 hours reply in the Lok Sabha Tuesday, he gave his reply in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday. If the thrust of his take-down in the Lower House was that the Congress was “anti-Hindu”, he branded it “anti-Dalit” in the Upper House. In both Houses, the PM countered the Opposition’s attacks on his government over posing “a threat to the Constitution” – proof that the BJP wants to stall any chance of the Opposition gaining advantage on this count, as it did in the recent elections.

Modi also sought to drive a rift between the Congress and its INDIA allies, warning them in the Lok Sabha that the Congress was a “parjeevi (parasite)” feeding on them.

Over paper leaks and the Manipur crisis, the two issues on which the Opposition has been mounting an attack on the Modi government, the PM remained on the offensive.

Seizing on the opening provided by Rahul Gandhi’s remarks referring to Hinduism in the context of the BJP, PM Modi – who had made a rare intervention when the LoP was speaking – took the Congress leader on at length in his reply to the Motion of Thanks.

Referring to Gandhi’s speech, Modi said: “People of the country will never forgive what happened… Hindus are tolerant as