The Lok Sabha witnessed some great oratory during the no-confidence motion debate on Friday. While Congress president Rahul Gandhi's quick punches at the treasury benches, particularly at Prime Minister Narendra Modi before dramatically hugging him, left the BJP MPs flummoxed, it was left to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to counterpunch. The home minister rose up to the occasion, hitting back at the Congress and those “born with a silver spoon in their mouths”.
Rajnath Singh went on to compare Prime Minister Modi with Chandragupta Maurya, the first king of India who did not come from a dynasty. “Modi was born to a poor mother, only he can understand the pain of the poor and the farmers, not those who were born with silver spoon in their mouths,” he said.
The proceedings started with the BJD staging a walkout, while NDA ally Shiv Sena boycotted the proceedings. As allegations and jibes flew think and fast at the treasury benches, the BJP fielded its Madhya Pradesh MP Rakesh Singh to be the first speaker. Rakesh Singh, who was recently made state party chief, focused on listing the achievements of BJP led governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh—the three states going to polls in the next a few months. It was clear that the BJP was using the opportunity to reach out to the maximum audience glued in to their TV sets listening to the debate.
However, Rahul Gandhi's blistering attack and hug to Modi put him in an advantageous position in terms of optics and steering the debate. It was sometime later that BJP and the government realised what message it would send out.
At first the BJP MPs appeared to enjoy Rahul Gandhi hugging Modi, but on a second thought they protested after a few hours. Even Speaker Sumitra Mahajan termed Rahul Gandhi's action against the decorum and dignity of the house as Modi was sitting in the house as the prime minister of the country. She gently chided Rahul Gandhi, who was not present in Lok Sabha at that time, saying he has a long way to go in politics and she was taking this opportunity to correct him.
Rajnath Singh too went into offensive mode to defend Modi and the government. “Questions have been raised over the lynchings. I have said states should take strong action, and Centre would help them in anyway they want. But I want to remind the biggest lynching in the history of independent India took place in 1984. Now, those (Congress) people are teaching us about the lynching.”
He said there has not been single terror attack in the country in fours years. The attacks which took place in Pathankot air base were answered bravely by the Army, he added.
Referring to the farmers' issue, Rajnath Singh said there could be debate if farmers income can be doubled by 2022, but no one can doubt the intentions of PM Modi as MSP of several crops have been increased substantially.
The BJP MPs fully backed their leaders inside the house as they objected to every jibe or allegations from the opposition MPs. The newly appointed whip, Anurag Thakur, was also seen cajoling his and opposition MPs in allowing Rajnath Singh speak.
As the home minister was delivering his speech, the TDP MPs protested that he had not touched upon the Andhra Pradesh issue, the prime issue for no-confidence motion. The house was adjourned for 15 minutes as Rajnath Singh failed to convince them. Later, the home minister listed the number of schemes and financial assistance given to the state.
From the government side, food minister and LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan defended the government. He said there was no vacancy for the post of prime minister at the moment, and the opposition should give up their dream of victory in 2019.
The prime minister was yet to reply till the filing of this report.