New Delhi, February 11 In the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and BJP leader Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said that successive electoral defeats have made the Leader of the Opposition so bitter that he has started to hate India and its constitutional institutions.
Countering Gandhi's claims that the government has "sold out" India's interests in the interim trade deal with the US, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the strongest prime minister the nation had ever had, and his leadership was "unshakeable".
"No one has the audacity to sell or buy out India," Rijiju said shortly after Gandhi concluded his speech during a debate on the Union Budget in the Lower House.
Participating in the debate, BJP member Thakur said that successive electoral defeats have filled Gandhi with hatred.
"It is unfortunate that he cannot even speak on the subject of the defeat. The electoral losses have filled him with hatred. He hates parliamentary rules, he hates the speaker, he hates constitutional institutions, he hates the prime minister and now he has started hating India," Thakur said.
The former Union Minister said that the Congress has faced losses in 95 elections under Gandhi's leadership and that "they are about to hit a century of losses".
Countering Gandhi's comments about the US having a "chokehold" on India, Thakur said that during the UPA rule, 11 of the 12 banks were under the stranglehold of the PCA (Protective Corrective Action) framework.
"We recovered Rs 10 lakh crore in bad loans and gave banks a healthy balance sheet," he said.
Thakur accused Gandhi of shedding crocodile tears for MSMEs and said that the Congress-led UPA government gave a free-pass to Chinese products for the Indian market at the cost of domestic entrepreneurs.
"They (Congress) used to demote MSMEs, while Modi promoted MSMEs," the BJP leader said.
Thakur said that Gandhi always raised the issue of "vote chori" (vote theft), whereas the reality is that people have stopped voting for thieves.
"He is being programmed by Uncle Sam and Uncle Soros. Rahul had a US SIM card embedded in him and runs on software of Uncle Soros. Some visible and invisible forces are at play," the BJP leader said.
LJP (RV) member Arun Bharti welcomed the Budget, saying that Bihar was witnessing development due to the progressive policies of the NDA government.
He said that Bihar had always been discriminated against and marginalized, which is why development never happened in the state.
"Migrant labourers from Bihar travelled far and wide in search of employment because the state was not developed enough to provide employment," the Jamui MP said.
The state that was dismissed as 'BIMARU' is now emerging as the pride of the new India, Bharti said.
"The Budget has given an assurance that good work will be paid well, and this is happening because of the NDA government at the Centre," he said.
AAP member Raj Kumar Chabbewal demanded that the Centre clear the financial dues of Punjab.
"The Centre owes Rs 12,205 crore to the state, and we demand that the same be cleared soon," Chabbewal said.
BJP member Sudhir Gupta said that former finance minister Manmohan Singh would present budgets with a sense of despair and even the poetry quoted in the speech was disappointing.
Gupta said that the Budget presented by Sitharaman was full of hope.
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha member Indra Hang Subba thanked the finance minister for announcing plans to develop a Buddhist circuit in the northeastern states.
He also lauded the announcement of developing hiking and trekking trails in Himalayan states and urged the Centre to consult Sikkim in this regard, as the state has prior experience in the field.
Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) member Chandra Shekhar said that unemployment was the biggest problem facing the nation and demanded targeted employment schemes for the SC/ST and OBC communities.
Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee said that Sitharaman's Budget speech was full of sound and fury.
He said that West Bengal was denied due fiscal allocation in central schemes such as MGNREGA and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan on irrational grounds.
Banerjee said that the West Bengal chief minister has written letters to the Prime Minister, but none have been answered.
"Bengal has been ignored, Bengalis have been ignored. Announcements in the budget are plentiful, but implementation is scarce," Banerjee said.
