Ahead of the Budget Session, Congress MP from Jorhat Gaurav Gogoi and deputy leader in the Lok Sabha on Monday hoped that the House would remain “impartial”, adding that he does not “expect” anything from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the union government from the Budget.
Speaking to ANI, Gogoi alleged that parts of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s statements made in the House were removed from the record.
“We want the House to remain impartial. It is unfortunate that our party leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks were removed from the record in the last session. When he said that PM Modi, BJP, and the RSS do not represent a complete Hindu society, you saw and heard these important things on your camera, which got removed from the record. To date, we don’t know why it was removed. Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter also, but people in BJP are spreading misconceptions among the people. The people gave a befitting reply to the BJP in Badrinath. The Leader of the Opposition is a constitutional post. Whatever Rahulji says as the Leader of the Opposition, he does so with responsibility. The weight of his words must show in parliamentary records,” Gogoi said.
Gogai further said that the nations thought process is the same what Rahul Gandhi says in Parliament.
“Hindus are not violent; they are powerful, but they don’t use their power in the wrong way. A Hindu walks on the path of truth and does not resort to lies. Yahi Hindu Dharam ki shiksha Ayodhya ke logo ne BJP ke logo ko di. And the same people of Badrinath again taught them the lesson,” he said.
Notably, in the recently concluded by-elections, the Congress’s Lakhpat Singh Butola won the Badrinath seat against the BJP’s Rajendra Singh Bhandari by a margin of 5224 votes.
Meanwhile, the BJP lost the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency, which includes Ayodhya, in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls. SP leader Awadhesh Prasad defeated BJP leader Lallu Singh.
When asked what the Opposition demands from the government as Budget session is going to start, Gogoi attacked Prime Minister Modi and said that he has time to attend Ambani’s wedding, but he doesn’t have time for poor and middle-class people.
“I don’t expect anything from PM Modi and the government. PM Modi still has time for Ambani and Adani but not for the poor and the middle-class. Inflation and unemployment will continue. Some marketing gimmicks will remain and the PM will use some fancy terms but I don’t expect him to take any concrete steps to fight inflation and unemployment. If someone else was the PM, then the BJP might have taken steps against inflation. PM Modi has time to visit Italy, France and attend the wedding of Ambani, but he doesn’t have time for youth, women, etc. There is an issue regarding NEET, but the Education Minister has been retained. Similarly, there is inflation and unemployment but the Finance Minister is retained,” Gogoi said.
“Even after unrest in Manipur, the CM and Home Minister have been retained. You will see national issues being raised by Rahul Gandhi both in and out of Parliament,” he said.
After the Congress party made Gogoi the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Jorhat MP said that he would try to raise the voice of the entire northeast in Parliament.
“Being a representative from a northeastern state, I will try to raise the voice of the entire northeast in Parliament. This time, the number of Congress MPs from the northeast has gone up…I want to know what the central government is doing about issues of flood, river and sea erosion. If the Centre has money to give a Rs 1 lakh crore package for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, then can’t it give a similar package for towards flood control,” he said.
The interim budget, tabled on February 1, took care of the financial needs of the intervening period until a government was formed after the Lok Sabha polls, after which a full budget was supposed to be presented by the new government in July.
With this upcoming Budget Presentation, Sitharaman surpassed the record set by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who, as finance minister, presented five annual budgets and one interim budget between 1959 and 1964.
Sitharaman’s upcoming Budget speech would be her sixth.
The government announced the dates of the budget session of Parliament, which will start on July 22 and conclude on August 12.
