Congress hits back at PM Modi, saying government has suppressed people’s voice for 10 years

In a sharp reaction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that there was an “undemocratic attempt” to suppress the government’s voice, the Congress hit back, accusing him of suppressing the country’s voice for a decade and insisting that voters had “punished” Modi for it in the Lok Sabha elections.

In his usual remarks on the first day of every parliamentary session, Mr Modi said: “An undemocratic attempt was made to suppress the voice of the government which was instructed to serve by 1.4 million Indians.” “For two and a half hours, attempts were made to suppress the voice of the Prime Minister and such a thing has no place in democratic traditions. They (the opposition) feel no remorse about it,” he said.

In contrast, Congress’s media and publicity chief Pawan Khera wrote in a post on X: “He said the opposition had suppressed the Prime Minister’s voice for two and a half hours. It is important to remind Prime Minister Modi that during his unjust rule of the last decade, the entire country was stifled, for which the public punished him.” Mr Khera said it was the Congress’s parliamentary duty to seek answers. “It is our duty to repeatedly interrupt and stop you to raise the voice of the country. You too must understand that it is important to put everything aside and listen to the questions related to the immediate needs and problems of the country,” the Congress leader said.

Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi attacked the Prime Minister, saying that the NEET issue was listed as the second topic in Question Hour on Monday, but Mr Modi got up and left beforehand.

“Why did he leave? Was it not his responsibility to give an answer to this question? When we demanded the resignation of the Education Minister, he (Dharmendra Pradhan) arrogantly asked why he should resign when he was appointed as the Education Minister by Prime Minister Modi,” Mr Gogoi told reporters outside Parliament.

Manickam Tagore, Congress party whip in the Lok Sabha, sharply criticised Modi’s remarks and said the Prime Minister should put his preaching into practice by doing positive things.

“Outside he says one thing and inside he does another,” claimed Mr. Tagore.