New Delhi, July 27: The Congress on Wednesday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not speaking on various issues of national importance, saying his silence had left the country speechless.
“He does not speak here (in India). He can address the US Congress for over 40 minutes but does not speak when it comes to the marginalised in the country,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media at the Parliament House complex.
“Modi goes silent when he has to make a statement on various issues in India. Modi’s speechlessness has rendered the country speechless,” he quipped.
The Congress also accused the Modi government of “supporting anti-poor and anti-Dalits forces” and said it had “created an atmosphere of fear among the marginalised”.
“In Gujarat, a lion kills a cow; so-called upper caste people do not come forward to dispose of the carcass, but when the Dalits do it, they are beaten up and threatened,”
Singhvi said cow protection vigilantes thrashed two helpless women at a railway station in Mandsour in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday for carrying buffalo meat.
“There is trust deficit. They are creating an atmosphere in which there is no fear of law,” he said, adding that the self-appointed policemen have no fear of punishment.
Modi can even have me murdered, says Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was so furious with the AAP that he can even have him (Kejriwal) murdered.
In an open appeal to his party volunteers, ministers and legislators, Kejriwal said the Aam Aadmi Party was passing through “a critical time” and the situation was sure to worsen.
Accusing Modi of acting in anger and trying to crush the AAP, Kejriwal said: “They can have us killed. They can even have me killed. “I am telling all MLAs, anything can happen.”
Asking the legislators to discuss the situation with their families, he said: “If you are ready, then stay with us. If there are doubts, then drop out, for now.”
According to the AAP leader, Modi was orchestrating all the government action against his party because he wanted to break it at a time when it was spreading wings in Punjab, Goa and Gujarat.
Accusing Modi of trying to crush his foes, he said no other party was able to raise its voice against the Modi government.
“He has left no stone unturned” against the AAP”, Kejriwal said. “But he is not able to crush our spirits. We refuse to surrender. That why he is angry, frustrated.”
The AAP-run Delhi government has been locked in a war of words with the Modi government since winning elections in the capital in February 2015, chiefly over issues of governance and jurisdiction.
The relations between the two have been seriously strained in recent months after police arrested 10 legislators on various charges in Delhi. Barring one, all of them have been left off by courts.
On Wednesday, the income tax department raided another Delhi legislator’s house. The AAP says there are moves to disqualify one of its MPs, Bhagwant Mann.
“Why is this happening?” Kejriwal asked in a video message. He said different people gave different reasons, including how Modi had failed to fulfil his election promises in contrast to the AAP.
“Insiders tell me that Modi is very angry with us (AAP),” he went on. “He is not thinking logically.” When a leader, he said, acts without thinking, “there is danger to the country. This is really worrisome”.
Kejriwal also referred to how centuries of India’s warm ties with Nepal had hit rock bottom and how New Delhi was blowing hot and cold vis-a-vis Pakistan. “If the PM is taking such decisions... if this has become a habit, is the country in safe hands” the AAP leader asked.
