Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Monday accused him of mocking the misery of people who lost their lives and livelihood in the Covid-19 pandemic and dismissed his claims of economic gains as “propaganda”.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed a clear message has come from the House today that if people want relief from “severe unemployment, extreme inflation, falling incomes and extreme poverty”, then the BJP “will have to be defeated” in the elections.He was reacting after the prime minister launched a scathing attack on the opposition party while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks on the president’s address in Lok Sabha and said the country has set an example with the way it handled the pandemic.There was a lot of “propaganda in the House today” about India being the fastest growing economy, but the fact remains that the rich have grown richer and 84 per cent of households have lost their incomes, Surjewala alleged.“Those pushing workers and their families into the whirlpool of misery due to the lockdown, instead of apologising are now questioning the ‘helping hands’,” he said after the prime minister alleged that the Congress instigated people to come out during the lockdown leading to the spread of the pandemic.
“Lakhs of people lost their loved ones due to the incompetence of the government, but their pain was shamelessly laughed at in Parliament today. It will be remembered,” Surjewala said.The Congress leader said Parliament should have talked about “12 crore jobs gone, 23 crore helpless poor, death of 700 farmers, the income of farmers remaining at Rs 27 per day, 84 percent households having reduced incomes, the highest inflation in 30 years, Rs 40-60 lakh compensation to those who died of Corona”.
