PM Modi doesn't have courage to answer questions posed to him: Kharge

New Delhi: Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his speech in the Rajya Sabha, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the PM doesn't have the courage to answer the questions posed to him and claimed that the government doesn't want to run the House in a democratic manner.

Speaking with reporters, Kharge said "repeating falsehoods" has been Modi's job and in his 97-minute reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address, he didn't say anything important or necessary.

"When we presented our statements on the President's address, the prime minister didn't respond to a single point. He just kept talking about 100 years... 75 years... 50 years," Kharge said.

"When we got hold of Mr. (MM) Naravane's book, how could those in power not have it? They're saying in Parliament that the book hasn't even been published yet. Whether it's Amit Shah or Rajnath Singh... everyone kept repeating that the book doesn't exist, but the reality is that the book does exist," the Congress chief said.

When Rahul Gandhi spoke about Naravane's 'book' in Parliament, for some reason, the entire ruling side felt offended, he said.

"I want to tell them: first, listen to the truth, then reply. The truth is that Narendra Modi doesn't have the courage to answer the questions we've asked," Kharge said.

"Modi said that we insulted the Sikhs. Meaning, a conversation between two people outside the House was labelled as an insult to the Sikhs," he said.

"The Congress party respects Sikhs greatly; under a Congress government, Dr. Manmohan Singh served as Finance Minister and then Prime Minister, but Narendra Modi respects neither Sikhs, nor Dalits, nor Adivasis. The only thing in Narendra Modi's mind is how to belittle others," he alleged.

The founder of modern India, Jawaharlal Nehru, established the public sector, but Modi calls them factories that declare bankruptcy, he said, hitting out at the PM for his criticism of Nehru.

"When not a single watch was made in the country, it was the public sector that stepped up, but instead of saving the public sector, Narendra Modi worked to dismantle it. Narendra Modi has no ideology. He has no vision for guiding the country," Kharge alleged.

These statements show that Modi's morale is broken, his sparkle has faded, Kharge claimed.

"If a person in the prime minister's position uses abusive language against democracy and the country, that's not a good thing. Narendra Modi is afraid of what questions Rahul (Gandhi) ji will ask, what he'll say, what facts he'll present, so Modi ji doesn't even sit in the House," he said.

"The Lok Sabha Speaker said—intelligence was received, so he advised Modi ji not to respond to the President's address in the Lok Sabha. If your intelligence is so good, where was it during terrorist attacks like Pulwama? Lynchings are happening across the country, attacks on Adivasis and Dalits are taking place. Where does this intelligence go then?" Kharge said.

Stalling Parliament for five days at a time is a failure of democracy, he said, blaming the government for the deadlock in the Lok Sabha.

"The Modi government doesn't even want to run the House in a democratic manner," he alleged.

"The truth is that over the past few days, Narendra Modi has been troubled because matters related to him have come up in the Epstein files. After that, Narendra Modi surrendered before Trump and struck a trade deal. He sacrificed the country's farmers. Modi is making our people poor and making America's farmers rich," Kharge alleged.

Kharge's remarks came a day after Prime Minister Modi accused the Congress of insulting the President of India by resorting to disruptions in the Lok Sabha during the debate on her address.

He also accused the main opposition party of insulting tribals, Dalits, and people from the northeast.

Replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in the Rajya Sabha, Modi accused the Congress of insulting the Constitution.

Talking about disruptions in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister said, "Congress insulted the President. It's shameful... Yesterday in the Lok Sabha, a discussion could not be held on the President's address. It is an insult to the office of the President. Such people do not have the right to speak about the Constitution." "You have insulted tribals, women, and the top post of India," he alleged.

"The incident that took place in the Lok Sabha is very painful. We can understand your frustration, but it was done in the temple of democracy. At that time, there was an MP from Assam in the chair, and papers were thrown at him. Is it not an insult to the northeast? Not an insult to the people of Assam?" The prime minister was referring to Dilip Saikia, a BJP MP from Darrang-Udalguri in Assam, and Krishna Prasad Tenneti, a TDP MP from Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh. Both are members of the Panel of Chairpersons in the Lok Sabha.

"They did it yesterday as well; at that time, a son of a Dalit family from Andhra Pradesh was sitting in the Chair. They are doing their job, but you are insulting him because he comes from a Dzxalit family?" Modi said.