The Congress on Wednesday described President Droupadi Murmu’s address to Parliament as an “advertisement” for Narendra Modi rather than an “honest account” of his government’s “abysmal failures” in fulfilling promises made in 2014 and 2019.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “It was good to see President Droupadi Murmu in the new Parliament because she was not invited to the inaugural ceremony. But she was under obligation to hail Modi. Her address to the joint session sounded like propaganda. It was an advertisement for Narendra Modi. There was no mention of real concerns like unemployment, high prices of essential commodities, Manipur and the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory.”
Being the last address to the joint session of Parliament in Modi’s second term, the Opposition parties had expected the President to spell out a report card of sorts to the people. Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Shaktisinh Gohil said: “Like a farzi (fake) company sells its stuff making false promises, Modi too has forgotten his lofty promises made over the last 10 years.”
Gohil said: “Where is the black money? Modi said black money stashed abroad would be brought back and Rs 15 lakh would be given to everybody. Now reports suggest the amount of black money deposited by Indians in foreign banks has increased. Most of the fugitives who escaped after looting thousands of crores of rupees in the last 10 years have photographs with Modi.”
Reeling out other belied promises, Gohil said: “Modi had promised two crore jobs every year but the President’s address referred to a few lakh jobs without mentioning how many millions of existing jobs disappeared. He said farmers’ income would be doubled. Instead, input cost doubled. In Gujarat, farmers are not getting even the same price for BT cotton that they got 10 years ago. The price of diesel doubled; fertiliser, seeds, electricity, labour all became costlier.”