BJP MPs starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi observed a day-long fast against the continuous disruption of the budget session of the Parliament by opposition parties. Party leaders including chief ministers, ministers and party MLAs were spread across the country to build public sentiment against the opposition bloc led by the Congress.
BJP chief Amit Shah said that Congress’ policy was to disrupt the Parliament so that it cannot work on the pro-poor agenda of the Modi government.
“Congress has become an expert in obstructing the Parliament. Instead of holding a discussion within the house, it has taken up the task of hampering the work. Its only interest is in creating ruckus inside and outside the house.
The finance minister, parliamentary affairs minister and home minister had assured that the house be allowed to run and debate on issues, be it special status to Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery water dispute or the non-confidence motion. But the Congress kept on harping that the government does not want to debate, Shah said in a blog released by the BJP.
Shah was in Karnataka for the election campaign on Thursday. Modi went to Chennai to inaugurate the Defence Expo.
Modi will now be the second prime minister after Atal Bihari Vajpayee to observe a fast while in office. But if the reason were to be taken into account, he would be the first prime minister to undertake a fast against his political opponents.
Congress sought to stir up a controversy by releasing the list of the official programmes of Modi and Shah, in which time for meals had been mentioned.
The fast also marks another set of programmes of the BJP where the party leaders have been asked to propagate various initiatives of the Modi government among the people.
Modi has asked the party leaders to celebrate April 18 as Swachh Bharat Parv. Ujwala Diwas will be organised on April 20, and LPG panchayats will be called to give new connections. Gram Shakti Abhiyan will be organised on April 28, during which there will be an interaction with beneficiaries of various schemes like Saubhagya Yojana and LED bulb distribution. April 30 will be celebrated as “Ayushman Bharat Diwas ” which is popularly known as Modi care.