You face threat from within, not us: Azad to PM

Congress today told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he faces a threat from within rather than the opposition as it wondered whether he would be successful in restraining divisive elements in the Sangh who have "not even spared Mother Teresa".

Slamming the controversial statements made by BJP and RSS leaders, including Mohan Bhagwat, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the onus of restraining such people is on Modi as people had entrusted their faith when he gave the "inclusive slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'".

As Modi listened, Azad said, "Prime Minister, you don't face a threat from us. You face a threat from within...'Ghar ka bhedi, Lanka dhaye' (A Trojan Horse can bring down the empire). It is difficult to fight a person from within one's family. I can understand your difficulty."

Participating in a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, he told Modi, "If you are successful in stopping them, then all schemes, whether begun by us or by you, will be completed."

The senior Congress leader mentioned issues like 'ghar wapsi', love-jihad', incidents of attacks on churches and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's controversial remarks on Mother Teresa.

Referring to a statement made by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat asking all hindus to unite for "past glory", Azad wondered whether the unity should be desired to eliminate terrorism, poverty and to bring cleanliness or whether it should be aimed against others.

Tomorrow somebody could stand and say that muslims have been rulers for seven hundred years and they should unite for past glory while Buddhists could start speaking of the reign of Ashoka and so could other religions, he said.

"Do we have to fight battles?" Azad asked as he underlined that people of all religions are nationalists who love their motherland.

"These people have not even spared Mother Teresa" Azad continued, as Congress members shouted 'shame-shame', apparently referring to recent remarks of RSS chief where he had said that conversions to Christianity was a motivation behind work done by Teresa.

"This is the land of Buddha, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Bhagat Singh....What is happening," Azad and asked Modi if he can stop those organisations, which are "close" to him.
Azad also accused the government of merely changing the names of several schemes and programmes which had been begun by the UPA.

In his speech, Azad invoked Mahatama Gandhi and said that there is nobody more hindu or more secular than him. He said that Gandhi believed that all religions are flowers of a single garden.

Azad said that there are instances in other countries which could serve as a lesson to fanatics on how people of the same religion can wage a war against their own people.
Before attacking the government on controversial statements, Azad also launched a scathing attack on the government's performance in the first eight months.

Claiming that BJP was a "hero in publicity" and "zero in actual work", Azad said, "Congress is vice versa". He said many schemes that had been initiated in the previous UPA regime had been renamed by the present one.

'Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan' has become 'Swacch Bharat' while 'Jandhan Yojana' existed as scheme for financial inclusion and 'Skill development' programme too functioned earlier, he said.

Azad claimed that many inaugurations by Prime Minister of projects related from submarines to space were initiated by the previous UPA regime.

Referring to the President's Address, Azad said many issues which were government's priorities earlier were missing from it. He said the women's issues were a top priority of the government but during the phase of President's Rule in Delhi, there was "maximum violence" against women.

He said issues like black money, Andhra-Telangana issues, employment for youth and other such things, which government had talked much about earlier, were missing from the speech.

The senior Congress leader also hit out at the manner in which government removed people in important positions. He said senior officials like Foreign Secretary, DRDO chief, Chancellor of Nalanda University, Censor Board chairperson and others had to bear this attitude of the government.

Chandan Mitra (BJP) said it was unfortunate that the country was still struggling to eradicate poverty even so many decades after Independence.

He said the Modi government was committed for the welfare of the masses and the programmes by the BJP government have been designed to remove the abysmal poverty and benefit farmers, labourers, poor, people from SC and ST communities and others.
Listing schemes like MNREGA and Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojna, he said these along with schemes like Swaccha Bharat Mission were poised to take India on the path of development.

Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) said the President's address had no reference to programmes and schemes for elimination of poverty and steps taken by the government to bring back black money as promised.

The speech also remained silent on several issues confronting the youth of the country such as high unemployment rate, he said.

Yadav hit out the government over its 'clean Ganga' campaign and creating a separate department for it, saying mere rhetoric would not get any results unless concerted efforts are made and societal awareness is created to keep the river clean.

"I have so far refrained from taking bath in the river during Kumbh celebration at the Sangam as I could not muster courage to take a dip to the pollution," he said.
Talking about the initatives taken by the SP-ruled government in Uttar Pradesh, he said complete support to patients for medical treatment should be provided across the country.

He also suggested providing unemployment allowances as a central initiative.
Drawing attention to the recommendations of the Sachar Committee for the welfare of the Muslim community, he said the President's address had no mention on whether the government would implement them.

Equating their condition with the plight of the marginalised section, he demanded reservation for the Muslims, which was supported by the opposition benches.
Sharad Yadav (JD-U) expressed his reservations over the amendments proposed in the land bill, saying the government has "put its hand in the tiger's mouth" as the move is anti-farmer and against the interest of the farming community.

"Some BJP members had also come to me speaking against the amendments and I will never support such a legislation," he said.

He slammed recent government initiatives such as 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' and interlinking of rivers and said the government should instead address the fundamental issues facing the country for uplift of the society and tackling scarcity of water and other natural resources.

Bhupender Yadav (BJP) said the government has taken a slew of steps to fulfill people's aspirations in the past nine months and has initiated processes for simplification of policies.

"It is committed for all inclusive development under the leadership of the Prime Minister and will ensure that this development reaches the last perosn," he said.

On Land Bill, he said it is intended to be a progressive law and provides for procedural simplifications for acqusition of land for five specific purposes like defence purposes, creation of basic infrastructure and corridors and there is no logic for public debate for it.
He said the Jan Dhan Yojna to empower poor people has been a great success and over 13 crore bank accounts were opened.

Yadav said removal of complications from PF accounts has benefitted 44 lakh people including 5 lakh widows.

States will stand to be benefitted by an additional Rs 1,78,000 crore on account of 14 Finance Commission recommendations, he said.

He said Yoga was recognised internationally and it is a way of living and should not be associated with religion.

Azad, while referring to the contentious Land Aquisition legislation, said the UPA had brought the law on the subject after much thought. The present government, by removing the consent clause, has silenced the voice of the farmers, the Congress leader said.

He underlined the need for a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for land acquisition especially in hilly areas.

Referring to his home state of J&K as well as North East, Azad said the government should act sensitively towards the concerns of these regions.

He said the BJP was focussed on how it could form a government in the state of J&K and not on developing it.

Azad said the government has focussed much on Ordinances but not paid any attention to a slew of legislations which the previous government had planned which were aimed at bringing transparency and eliminating corruption like the Whistleblowers Bill and others.

Modi, Azad said, had spoken of 'poverty elimination' but the policies have been moving in a different direction.

He said the government had reduced the scope of MGNREGA scheme which had transformed rural areas.

Azad also criticised government's policies related to Minimum Support Price for crops and food security saying that there impact could be such that middlemen would make hay.
The senior Congress leader referred to the reduction in international oil prices and said he felt the common man would benefit but that was not what happened.

Azad asked if bus operators had reduced the cost of tickets and said only a few people had actually benefitted from the reduction in oil prices.

Referring to an FIR filed against Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav, Azad said that earlier it was thought that Governor had immunity but perhaps that is not the case in BJP ruled states.

He said there were allegations against MP Chief Minister but no enquiry had been ordered.