From Manipur violence to dismissing no-trust motion as ‘misleading’, 10 things Amit Shah said in Lok Sabha
Union home minister Amit Shah called the no-confidence motion against the government a move to ‘mislead people’.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday tore into the opposition over the no-confidence motion moved against the Narendra Modi government over the issue of Manipur violence. In his speech which lasted a little over two hours, Shah not only called out the opposition ‘I.N.D.I.A’ bloc but also addressed the issue of Manipur violence.
Here are ten important things Shah said in his Lok Sabha address on Wednesday.
1. Shah hit out at the opposition over the no-confidence motion, calling it a move to mislead people. “The purpose of the no-confidence motion is only to spread confusion. They are neither farmer friendly nor poor-friendly nor backward-friendly. They are not worried about anyone except their family”, Shah said.
2. On the issue of Manipur, Shah said he is pained by the violence in the state which has left 152 dead since May 3. He, however, accused the opposition of politicising the situation. The minister condemned the viral video of the Manipuri women being paraded naked on May “This is a very unfortunate incident and it is a shame for society. But why did this video (Manipur viral video) come before the start of this Parliament session? If someone was having this video they should have given it to the DGP, and action would have been taken on that day itself (May 4)...We have identified all those nine people and arrested them”, he said.
“The Prime Minister of the country called me at 4 AM and 6 AM for three days straight. He was very concerned. We conducted 16 video conferences, sent the Security Advisor, deployed 36,000 security personnel, changed the Chief Secretary, and changed the DGP (Director General of Police)”, he added.
3. Shah hit out at the opposition over violence in Manipur. “During the Congress rule, there were numerous incidents of violence in Manipur, yet no home minister visited there. I stayed there for 3 days, and our MoS (Minister of State) Shri Nityanand Rai stayed there continuously for 23 days”, he said.
4. Shah compared the no-confidence motions brought against the NDA and UPA, alleging that Congress governments won the floor test by paying bribes.
“The government of Narasimha Rao won the no-confidence motion, but later, several members of that government were sentenced to jail because it was discovered that they had bribed leaders of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to secure their votes in favour. Today both the Congress and JMM are sitting together,” he said.
He also added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi or former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee could have won no-confidence motions applying the same tactics. But they decided to stand by their principles.
5. During his speech, Shah took a veiled jibe at Rahul Gandhi, calling him a leader who had been launched 13 times but failed on all occasions. “ In this house, there is a leader who has been launched in politics 13 times till now, and he has failed all thirteen times. His launching was also done in this house".
6. Amit Shah trained guns at opposition leaders over their remarks made during Covid-19 fight. “The opposition opposed India's indigenous vaccine. I remember Rahul Ji and Akhilesh Ji campaigned against it naming it the Modi vaccine. They even opposed the lockdown. But the people of India trust Modi Ji even if the opposition does not and as a result 130 crore people took the vaccine and India became free from Covid”
7. Union home minister Amit Shah hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him the most popular PM in India. He said that parliament and people of India trust him. “After Independence, PM Modi's govt is only there which won the trust of most of the people. PM Modi is the most popular leader among the public...PM Modi works tirelessly for the people of the country. He works continuously for 17 hours a day, without taking a single leave. People trust him”, he said.
8. Shah also hit out at the opposition over freebies, which PM Modi and BJP call it ‘revadi’ culture. “They (UPA) keep saying that they will waive off farmers' loans. We don't believe in just waving off loans but in making a system where one doesn't have to take a loan. What we have given to farmers are not freebies, but we have made them self sufficient”, he said in Lok Sabha.
9. Recalling the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Shah said the government will not hold discussions with Hurriyat or Jamaat, and neither with Pakistan. He said the government will only hold talks with youth of Kashmir Valley. “After 33 years, cinemas have reopened in Kashmir. Night shows and the Shikara Festival have begun and 1.80 crore tourists flocked to the valley last year due to a series of reforms adopted by the Modi government promoting trade and tourism in the valley”.
10. Shah also spoke on government's crackdown on drug control and issues related to internal security. He recalled the expatriation of Sidhu Moose Wala murder accused Sachin Bishnoi who was brought back to India from Azerbaijan. He added that the attacks on India's diplomatic missions in London, Ottawa, and San Francisco have been handed over to the NIA.