PM Narendra Modi is addressing Parliament today (Thursday), where he is to reply to the debate on Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address.
The PM’s address was originally scheduled to take place Wednesday evening, but Lok Sabha was adjourned following repeated disruptions and uproar by Opposition members.
Wednesday’s postponement of the PM’s speech has been strongly attacked by the Opposition, with Rahul Gandhi saying in a post on X, “As I said, PM Modi won’t come to Parliament because he is scared and doesn’t want to face the truth.”
Watch the speech here:
Read more for highlights.
HIGHLIGHTS | Modi Parliament speech
6.40 pm: ‘Appeal to countrymen, don’t compromise on quality’
Calling on Indian manufacturers not to compromise on quality, Modi says if this is done, the world will sing praises of ‘Made in India’.
6.35 pm: ‘Rare earth minerals have become a weapon’
Modi says access to rare earth minerals has become a weapon and his government is making efforts to ensure that India is self-reliant in that aspect. ‘We are talking about Viksit Bharat because the world is now thinking about missing the bus in terms of the opportunities India has to offer’.
6.25 pm: ‘My govt is remote-controlled too’
Criticising the UPA, Modi says ‘their government was remote-controlled’. He is quick to add, ‘My government is remote-controlled too; 140 crore Indians have the remote’.
6.15 pm: ‘Nehru did great injustice to the nation’
Modi says Nehru did great injustice to the nation by agreeing to the Indus Waters Treaty which the current government has put into abeyance.
6.10 pm: ‘Rahul-Ravneet Bittu spat insult to Sikhs’
Mentioning the exchange between Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi and Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu at the Makar Dwar the previous day, Modi says the use of the word ‘traitor’ was an ‘insult to Sikhs’.
‘The yuvraj of Congress who has shaatir dimag, called an MP of this House ‘traitor’. His arrogance is at its peak. He did not call anyone else who has left the Congress a traitor. But he called the MP a traitor, because he is a Sikh. This was an insult to the Sikhs, an insult to the Gurus. This was an expression of the hatred for Sikhs that is filled in the Congress…’
6 pm: ‘Congress only imagines, has nothing to do with implementation’
Citing projects delayed for several years during the UPA era, Modi says the Congress ‘only imagines, they have nothing to do with implementation of the project’.
‘Whether it be BJP or NDA, our approach and that of the Congress is worlds apart. Our view is that 140 crore Indians are so capable that they can deal with any problem, but the Congress looks at these 140 crore Indians as the problem,’ he adds. Citing a ‘speech by Indira Gandhi’, he says she and Nehru ‘saw Indian citizens as problems’.
5.50 pm: ‘Aspirational districts example of effective policy implementation’
Criticising the ‘Planning Commission model’ of earlier governments, Modi says the NITI Aayog’s identification of aspirational districts is a great example of effective policy implementation.
‘Congress senior leader and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was fully aware of the working style of the Congress party, yet no steps were taken to improve it. Indira Gandhi completely dismantled the Planning Commission, which had been established by her father [Nehru]. After 2014, we abolished the Planning Commission and introduced NITI Aayog. Today, NITI Aayog is working at a rapid pace,’ he says.
5.40 pm: ‘We brought down NPAs, reformed banking sector’
Talking about non-performing assets (NPAs), Modi says the NDA government brought down the mountain of NPAs built up over the UPA years. Reforming the banking sector, he adds, was among the first priorities of his government when it first came to power in 2014. He blamed the accumulation of NPAs to ‘phone banking’, a reference to how Congress leaders would call banks to ensure loan approval for special interest groups.
Also talking about Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), he says there was earlier a notion that PSUs were set up only to be destroyed, but they are now reporting record profits.
5.30 pm: ‘Infiltrators taking away what is owed to the youth of my country’
Without naming West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee who appeared before the Supreme Court the previous day to present her case against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Prime Minister Narendra Modi says pressure is being put on courts to shield infiltrators who are taking away what is owed to the youth of India.
‘TMC leaders spoke on many issues, but they should also look at their own shortcomings. People there [in West Bengal] are suffering because of this government. They are trying to protect infiltrators by approaching the courts. They only care about power,’ he says.
5.20 pm: ‘Our energy being spent on washing away mistakes of Congress’
Modi says, ‘As far as Congress party is concerned, I would request the country to look at speeches of Congress prime ministers delivered from the ramparts of the Red Fort, they had no vision…much of our energy is being spent on washing away their mistakes…I can say with confidence that India is ready to compete with the world.’
‘Today, the country is being governed on the basis of policy and strategy. Global trust in India is growing. Guided by the mantra of ‘reform, perform, transform,’ we have moved forward, and the reality today is that the nation has boarded the Reform Express,’ he adds.
5.10 pm: ‘High growth, low inflation is a unique coincidence’
Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, Modi says the first quarter of this century was decisive for India and the next quarter which began this year will be decisive too. ‘In the journey of Viksit Bharat, previous years have been the years of rapid development of the country. This has been the era of change in every walk of life, in every section of society. The country is going ahead in the right direction at a fast pace.’
‘Even the most prosperous countries in the world are ageing…our country is one which is touching the heights of development, and our country is growing younger by the day. This is a great coincidence…We have a significant young talent pool and this is a great advantage,’ he adds.
India, he says, is exhibiting high growth and low inflation which is a unique coincidence.
Talking about India’s recently concluded trade deals with the European Union and the US, he says, ‘Big countries are very eager to have trade relations with India. Be it the trade deal of the European Union or the recent deal with the US…The entire world is openly praising these trade deals. When we signed the trade deal with the EU, the world became more confident about the greater likelihood of global stability. After the trade deal with the US, the world became even more confident that with stability, they can sense a speed too. This is a positive sign for the world.’
5.05 pm: Request Kharge to raise slogans while sitting, says Modi
Taking a jibe at the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Modi said that keeping in mind his age, Kharge be allowed to sit and raise slogans.
‘…Looking at the age of Kharge ji, I urge you, the Chairman, to let him sit and sloganeer so that he faces no discomfort. There are young people at the back. So, please permit Kharge ji to sloganeer even while sitting,’ he says. As he continued with his speech, Opposition MPs raised slogans demanding that Kharge be allowed to speak.
5 pm: PM Modi begins address in Rajya Sabha
Modi’s speech comes after three days of continued upheaval, inside as well as outside, Parliament which saw verbal spats between opposition MPs and treasury benches over an unpublished book, eight Congress and CPI-M MPs suspended for ‘unruly behaviour’, and the LoP taking a dig at Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, calling his former aide a ‘traitor friend’.