'Ram Mandir is Reality Now': Prez Murmu Praises Govt for Making India Fastest Growing Economy

Attacking the Opposition over its ‘unruly behaviour’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that those who “horse around” (huddang), create ruckus and strip off the values of democracy (“loktantrik moolyun ka cheerharan“) will definitely introspect today as the budget session begins.

He further spoke about women power and said that the interim budget will be “nari shakti ka parv“.

“At the end of the first session that was convened in this new Parliament building, the Parliament took a graceful decision – Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. After that, on 26th Jan we saw how the country experienced the capability of Nari Shakti, its valour, the strength of its resolve. Today, when the budget session begins, President Drouapdi Murmu’s guidance and tomorrow Nirmala Sitharaman when presents the interim budget – in a way this is a festival of the Nari Shakti,” the PM said.

President Droupadi Murmu addressed both Houses of Parliament during the Budget Session, the last of the present Lok Sabha. All eyes are now on the interim budget tomorrow.

“In the last 10 years, India has seen completion of many works in the national interest for which the people of the country were waiting for decades. If we look at various dimensions of the economy today, our confidence rises that India is in the right direction and is moving forward by taking the right decisions,” Murmu said while telling the House that the dream of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is a reality now.

Murmu was seen arriving at the Parliament. Sengol was carried and installed in her presence.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget on February 1 (Thursday), which is likely to offer a glimpse into the ruling BJP’s agenda for the Lok Sabha polls, expected in April-May.

The government has sought cooperation of opposition parties to ensure the proceedings run smoothly.

Latest Updates Related to Budget Session:

• Meanwhile, the privilege committee report is expected to be tabled today that recommended removal of suspension of 11 MPs. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar had revoked their suspension on Tuesday. After revoke of their suspension, the opposition MPs would be able to attend the special address by the president.

• Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, after the customary all-party meeting on the eve the a session, said the government sought the cooperation of all the parties for the short session, even as the main opposition Congress raised issues like the alleged attack on Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Assam, the alleged “misuse” of probe agencies and the Manipur situation.

• Joshi said the main agenda of the 17th Lok Sabha’s brief session, set to conclude on February 9, was the President’s Address, the presentation of the Interim Budget and the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address with a reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Congress leader K Suresh said the party would raise the issue of unemployment, high inflation, agrarian distress, and the situation in ethnic violence-hit Manipur during the session.

• Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the finance minister should include the pending dues to West Bengal on account of various central schemes in the Interim Budget.

• “It is unfortunate that a chief minister has to sit on a dharna to demand timely allocation of central dues to the state,” he said.

• Samajwadi Party leader S T Hassan demanded steps to strengthen the Places of Worship Act that freezes the status of religious places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947, and prohibits their conversion while ensuring the maintenance of their religious character.

• Hassan’s demand came in the wake of demands to hand over the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi to the Hindu community.

• Emerging from the customary all-party meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi described the interaction as “very cordial” and said the government was ready to discuss every issue during the brief session.

• Joshi said the government did not have any legislative agenda for the Budget Session and its thrust would be on the President’s Address, debate on the Motion of Thanks, presentation of the Interim Budget and the budget for Jammu and Kashmir.

• “They have given suggestions, but since this is the last session of the present Lok Sabha. We have said, we will give them an opportunity in the next session,” Joshi said in a lighter vein amid confidence in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance that it will retain power in the elections.

• Congress Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari, who represented the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, said he raised the issue of the “violent attack” on the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in Assam and the state government’s curbs on it.

• An “unwritten dictatorship” prevails in the country, he said and accused the central government of misusing probe agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to target opposition leaders such as Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad.

• Tiwari said he raised these issues after consulting opposition parties.

• NCP President Sharad Pawar, JD(U)’s Ram Nath Thakur and TDP’s Jayadev Galla were among the leaders present at the meeting at the Parliament House complex.

• While Murmu’s address is likely to cover a gamut of issues, from political to cultural and economic, to highlight the government’s achievements during the 10 years under Modi, political watchers will be keen to see the measures announced by Sitharaman ahead of the polls.

• Though Parliament will be passing only the interim budget for the rest of the tenure of the government, the minister may make a host of proposals to woo different voting blocs to highlight what the government will do if reelected.

• Then Finance Minister Piyush Goyal had made a host of proposals, including tax sops and welfare measures, in the interim budget he had presented in 2019 before the elections, which saw the government retain power with a stronger mandate.

(With inputs from PTI)