Partition of soul under Modi regime after partition of soil in 1947, says Congress leader Shashi Tharoor

He rejected the President's address as “accounts of lies”

Opposition parties in Lok Sabha on Tuesday accused the BJP government of dividing the country on the lines of religion and cornered it on the front of governance and economy, with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor asking the ruling dispensation to name all of its schemes as “sit-down India, shutdown India and shut-up India.”

"They are dividing this country. Hindus versus Muslims, Desh drohis versus desh bhakts, Hindi speakers versus non-Hindi speakers. In 1947, we had a partition of Indian soil. In 2020, this government is giving us a partition of Indian soul," Tharoor said while participating in a debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address.

Slamming the government over Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens (NRC) proposal, abrogation of article 370 and other issues, the Congress leader underlined that the country has been witnessing “a fundamental assault” on the democratic, secular and constitutional fabric of India for the last few months under Modi regime.

“The present ruling dispensation has become a tukde-tukde gang. History will see you for what you really are, men with limited vision unable to comprehend the great diversity of India," he said.

Tharoor rejected President Ram Nath Kovind's January 31 address to both Houses of Parliament, saying it was “soaring rhetoric” and was completely divorced from the abject reality of the country’s social and economic situation.

“The Address failed to even speak of the constitutional and political crises that our country is facing in the face of nationwide protests. It was not just disappointing, but an abdication of any moral responsibility by the ruling dispensation,” he said.

Tharoor also alleged that the government made the President “selectively” quote Mahatma Gandhi during his address to make “an absurd claim” that the “draconian” Citizenship Amendment Bill was a fulfilment of the wishes of the Father of the Nation.

“Gandhi had said Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan, who do not wish to live there, can come to India,” Kovind had said while speaking on the CAA during his address.

Recalling this, Tharoor said, “No one disagrees with that. He (Gandhi) had also said that to drive every Muslim from India would mean war and eternal ruin for the country.”

Tharoor described the government as "men of straws with limited vision" and accusing it of driving the economy into the doldrums.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav also lashed out at the government, accusing it of following the 'divide and rule' policy of the Britishers.