The Opposition on Friday launched an aggressive attack on the government, picking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for turning a blind eye to the unending violence in Manipur, silence on the Bilkis Bano episode, Chinese aggression and targeting of political rivals by investigating agencies.

However, the Treasury bench members heaped praise on their leader during the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President’s address to Parliament.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge led the attack with Modi present in the House. Seeking to counter Modi’s claims on the welfare of the poor and deprived sections, Kharge accused the government of depriving the scheduled castes and tribes of reservation benefits.

“The SCs and STs are facing denial of reservation. Sometimes, the eligibility and required qualifications (for certain government posts) are changed. The government is not investigating this. Scholarship money is not being given to them regularly, and they are facing difficulty in continuing their studies. The PSUs are most important for the
reserved classes. You are finishing them one by one,” Kharge said.

Kharge flagged how RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who had called for a review of reservations in 2015, sat beside Modi during the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple. Making an oblique reference to a controversial post on X by a BJP chief minister on caste hierarchy, Kharge asked why no action had been taken against the leader.

Kharge also stressed how the recent draft guidelines of the UGC for central varsities on the implementation of reservation suggests that posts remaining vacant in the reserved category can be de-reserved in case of failure to get candidates.

Raising the release of the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case, Kharge questioned the Prime Minister’s silence on such a grave issue concerning his home state. The 11 convicts facing life imprisonment were released on August 15 last year. Local BJP leaders had even garlanded them. After the matter went to the Supreme Court, they surrendered. “The Prime Minister must condemn this incident. The convicts are from his state,” Kharge said.

“Manipur continues to witness arson and killing for the past eight months, but the Prime Minister maintains a silence. Why has he not visited Manipur so far?” Kharge asked. “The Prime Minister is an expert in changing untruth to truth,” he added. Kharge also flagged Modi’s silence on China “capturing” Indian territory.

Hitting out at the government for systematically unleashing investigating agencies against Opposition leaders, Kharge asked why tainted leaders joining the BJP were being spared. “The government is giving a message that if you go with the Opposition, you land in jail and you will become clean if you join the BJP,” Kharge said.

Initiating the discussion in the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Heena Gavit took digs at the Opposition INDIA bloc for being a divided house and concluded that they were no challenge to Modi. “Mamata Banerjee is the captain of Bengal and she is unwilling to accommodate the Congress in her team,” Gavit said.