New Delhi: As debate began in Parliament Tuesday on the no confidence motion brought in by parties in opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, the Prime Minister has told party members to “hit a six [a cricketing analogy]” by defeating the motion, ThePrint has learnt.
“The no confidence motion [has been brought] not against the government, but to bring confidence among their allies,” said Modi at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting Tuesday, party leaders present there told ThePrint. The PM then went on to attack the newly-formed INDIA alliance of opposition parties as “Ghamandia [arrogant] alliance”.
Modi added: “This [the no confidence motion] is a programme for them [to win brownie points], but for us it’s an opportunity to bring in the good work done by this government into the narrative. ‘Ghamandia alliance’ is a coalition of arrogance which can be defeated only by our unity.”
Addressing the media after the meeting, Union minister of state (MoS) for parliamentary affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal said, “The Prime Minister said that this alliance [of opposition parties] is not INDIA alliance, but alliance of arrogance and no confidence motion is not brought against government but to test their confidence and trust in their alliance partners.”
Talking to ThePrint Meghwal said, “a strong line-up of BJP leaders has been drawn to answer the no confidence motion, to expose the Opposition. We have numbers to defeat the motion and we will present all facts before the house on Manipur and other issues.”
The no confidence motion against the Modi government was brought in by Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on 26 July, who also initiated the debate on the motion Tuesday, though party leader Rahul Gandhi was earlier expected to do it. Modi is expected to answer the debate Thursday, before the motion is put to vote.
While the government is unlikely to lose the vote, as the BJP and its allies have a majority in Parliament, opposition leaders have reportedly said that the motion is expected to force the Prime Minister to talk on the ethnic violence in Manipur.
Last month, Modi broke his silence on Manipur for the first time since ethnic clashes between the state’s Kuki and Meitei communities broke out in May, after a video, purportedly of two women being paraded naked by a group of men in Manipur, went viral on social media.
The PM had then said that “What happened to the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven”. He had, however, made no mention of the ethnic clashes even then.
Despite a growing clamour from the Opposition for the Prime Minister to speak on the situation, Modi has remained silent on Manipur. He had also made no mention of it in his Mann Ki Baat address in June. There were also demands for him to talk on the issue during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament.
This is the second time the Modi government is facing a no confidence motion — the first being in 2018. While that had come before the Lok Sabha polls of 2019, the present motion too comes ahead of next year’s general elections.
Meanwhile, the PM’s continued targeting of the INDIA alliance is a strategy to keep up the pressure on opposition parties ahead of the assembly elections scheduled to be held in four states later this year, BJP sources told ThePrint.
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‘Their alliance not organic’
A BJP MP present at Tuesday’s parliamentary party meeting told ThePrint that Modi, while addressing the BJP leaders, had said that the “no confidence motion moved by the INDIA alliance is only a programme [to score a brownie point] for them, but for us it’s an opportunity to showcase the welfare work done by the government in the past nine years and to expose them [the Opposition].”
A second MP present at the meeting quoted the Prime Minister as saying that “this alliance has the arrogance to think that it can defeat the NDA [the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance].”
“The PM added that our alliance is an organic alliance and their alliance is not organic alliance. Through our unity we can answer ‘Ghamandia alliance’ and by batting on front foot, we can hit sixes by defeating the no confidence motion. Already their semi-final motion has been defeated in Rajya Sabha [a reference to the passing of the Delhi services bill Monday],” he said.
This is not the first time that the Prime Minister has used the term “Ghamandia alliance” to target the INDIA bloc of opposition parties. While participating in a meeting of NDA MPs last week the PM had said “Don’t call them INDIA, but ‘Ghamandia‘,” party sources told ThePrint. He had then gone on to slam the Opposition as a den of corruption and asked the MPs to highlight Central schemes which have transformed the lives of people — especially the poorer sections of the society — in their interactions with the public.
The prime minister had at the time termed the NDA as an alliance built on “sacrifice”, “unlike INDIA [alliance]”, which sources quoted the PM as saying, had been brought about by “opportunism”.
Last month, Modi had cited the East India Company, the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Indian Mujahideen to say that just using the country’s name can’t mislead people. “These gimmicks don’t work and people know who are actually working for their welfare,” he had added.
“The Britishers came and named themselves the East India Company… In the same manner, the Opposition is presenting itself with the name INDIA, but it won’t work,” the PM had told BJP leaders.
A third MP present at Tuesday’s meeting said the PM not only called the Opposition “directionless”, but said it appeared they had made up their minds to be in the Opposition for a long time.
“This is their destiny and we, on the other hand, have to work for the people. We have one year to go before we complete our term and we need to start preparing for the next elections and focus on our work,” the third BJP MP quoted the PM as saying.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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