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‘People trust Modi govt’: Shah targets Opposition over no-confidence motion

By, New Delhi
Aug 10, 2023 02:33 AM IST

Union home minister Amit Shah said while the Opposition may not have trust in the Narendra Modi government, the people of India do.

Union home minister Amit Shah hit out at the Opposition on Wednesday, saying the no-confidence motion was meant to sow confusion and added that while the Opposition may not have trust in the Narendra Modi government, the people of India do.

Union home minister Amit Shah.. (PTI)
Union home minister Amit Shah.. (PTI)

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Shah also made a veiled attack at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, attacked the Opposition’s INDIA grouping, touted the government’s record in nabbing drugs, and in spurring development in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We won’t engage in discussions with the Hurriyat, the Jamaat, or Pakistan. If we engage in discussions, it will only be with the youth of the Valley,” he said.

Shah began by comparing no-confidence motions earlier, and said that during the no-confidence motions moved by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) earlier, the Congress won by paying bribes. “The government of Narasimha Rao won the no-confidence motion, but later, many 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.

“On one hand there are individuals who spend crores of rupees to obtain a majority of power, on the other, there are people who prioritise principles over power,” he added.

He also appeared to attack Rahul Gandhi – who returned to the Lok Sabha this week after 137 days – in particular. “ In this house, there is a leader who has been launched in politics 13 times till now, and he has failed all 13 times,” the minister said.

Shah said the Opposition was not farmer friendly, poor-friendly or backwards-friendly, adding that only the NDA had the ability to provide stable governance, while the Opposition only stoked instability.

Shah gave data to show during 2006-13, the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government seized 152,000 kgs of drugs while the Narendra Modi government, during 2014-22, seized 7.3 million kgs. “Similarly, cases filed increased from 1,257 to 3,700, arrests from 1,363 to 5,400 and the value of seized drugs from Rs.768 crore to Rs.18,000 crore,” the home minister said.

The home minister said that after 33 years, cinema halls reopened in Kashmir, night shows and the Shikara festival began, and 18 million tourists visited the Valley last year. He also said that left-wing extremism was now confined to three districts in Chhattisgarh and that, too, will soon be eradicated.

In the Northeast, airports, railways, and extensive roads were built and Modi visited the Northeast 50 times in nine years, he said.

During his speech, Shah wondered why the Opposition coalition had to change its name, arguing that the NDA, which started in the Vajpayee era, retained its name with pride. “UPA was a nice name. I will tell you why they wanted a new name. The UPA was associated with so much corruption that they had to change the name,” Shah said.

He then read out a long list of scandals including the 2G spectrum scandal, coal allocation and the Commonwealth games scandals. “I tried to count but I stopped after the figure reached 12 lakh crore. They have changed their name but people know that the Opposition was involved in corruption and appeasement,” he said.

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