NEW DELHI: Union Minister and Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, JP Nadda, on Wednesday criticised Opposition parties for repeatedly disrupting proceedings in the Upper House, even when the government was prepared to make a statement on the US–India trade deal.
Speaking during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, he accused the Opposition of lacking seriousness in parliamentary conduct.
Nadda sarcastically advised Opposition parties to learn from the BJP the “skill development” required to function effectively as an opposition. He said there should be a chapter on this skill. “The first task of the Opposition is to build its own credibility. It is shameful that the Opposition has not been able to build its credibility in the last 11 years,” he said.
He stated that the government was ready to discuss SIR and the US–India trade deal, but proceedings were stalled by the Opposition. According to him, the Opposition itself did not allow the House to function. “If the Congress has become captive of some abodha (immature) people, then what can we do?” he asked.
Nadda criticised Opposition members for raising slogans during the President’s Address, calling it unfortunate. He alleged sloganeering continued even when the President referred to the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. He said the government had always been open to discussion.
On national security, Nadda accused previous Congress governments of showing ‘riayat’ or concessions to Pakistan. He said the Modi government responded firmly through surgical strikes, air strikes and Operation Sindoor. Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Pulwama attack, he recalled the warning that terrorists had committed a grave mistake.
He asserted that India would not succumb to nuclear blackmail and that a new normal had been established. “Now the new normal is that no water and blood can flow together,” Nadda said, adding that even a single terror attack would be treated as an act of war.
On economic issues, he attacked the Congress for relying on slogans like “Garibi Hatao” while failing to deliver results. He said the Modi government had lifted 25 crore people out of poverty. “They took votes in the name of the poor but did not even let the poor reach a bank,” he said, citing welfare schemes.
Calling the US–India trade deal historic, Nadda said India was witnessing an economic revolution and remained the fastest-growing economy. He also termed the EU trade agreement the “mother of all deals”, saying it would benefit manufacturers and artisans across 27 countries.