Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address at 2 pm in Rajya Sabha on Thursday during the ongoing Budget Session of the Parliament.
“Reply by the Prime Minister will be at 2 pm tomorrow,” said Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar after the last speaker spoke on the motion on Wednesday. President Droupadi Murmu had addressed the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on January 31, the first day of the Budget Session.
In her maiden address to the joint sitting of Parliament, president Murmu touched upon several key issues, including defence, space, women empowerment, importance of public involvement etc. Murmu also applauded the government’s relentless fight against corruption, which was later criticized by the opposition.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi replied to the motion of thanks in Lok Sabha, saying that President gave direction to the nation in her visionary address which inspired the ‘Nari Shakti’ (women power) of India and gave a boost to the self-confidence of India’s tribal communities. He also talked about the work done by his government and said that there is positivity and hope towards India at a global level. He said constructive criticism is vital for a strong democracy and criticism is like a ‘shuddhi yagya’.
The Prime Minister also took veiled digs at Rahul Gandhi who had made a sharp attack on the government over the Adani issue in his speech earlier on Tuesday. He said some speeches made on Tuesday were lauded by their ecosystem.
PM Modi also referred to remarks of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury about the President, for which he had later apologized. The Lok Sabha adopted the motion of thanks to the President’s address after PM Modi’s reply.
However Congress MP Rahul Gandhi later said that PM Modi did not answer questions to him during the debate and alleged that he was “protecting” industrialist Gautam Adani.
It is to be noted that the opposition has been protesting for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Hindenberg-Adani row.The Prime Minister said that the people’s trust in him was not due to the newspaper headlines but hard work.