Kharge says in RS PM may claim he is ‘very popular’, no need for democracy

New Delhi: Taking a shot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed in the Rajya Sabha on Friday that he may one day claim to be "very popular" and that democracy and elections are unnecessary.

During a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, the opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha accused the government of bias against opposition members and misusing central agencies to force them to become turncoats, warning that people would lose faith in democracy.

“I don’t know when the PM will declare the last election. PM will claim that he is very popular and there is no need for democracy,” Kharge said.

Kharge claimed that 411 MLAs have switched sides due to threats from agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department.

Referring to the resignation of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his subsequent arrest by the ED on Wednesday, the Congress chief alleged that his successor was not sworn in immediately despite having the support of a majority of the MLAs.

The tribal successor met the governor again on Thursday and “he told them to take oath at 12.30 pm next day. For a vote of confidence, he said, ‘I am giving 8-10 days’. This is for opposition,” Kharge said.

Whereas in Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s resignation was accepted in “15 minutes”, followed by his fresh oath as chief minister with the BJP’s support and cabinet formation.

Everything was done in half an hour in Bihar, while in Jharkhand, where an opposition party is in power, it was done differently, he alleged. “Is this democracy?… If you keep treating (the opposition) like this, people will lose faith on democracy,” Kharge said.

The Congress president said leaders of his party are labelled as corrupt but once they join the BJP, they become “clean” and all cases against them are dropped.

“Those who don’t listen (to the ruling party) go to jail. This is your policy and you preach us (on democracy),” he said.

Referring to the security breach in Parliament during the Winter session, Kharge said the government failed to protect the House, which is the temple of democracy.

He said that those who have been arrested for the breach have given an affidavit claiming that they were being tortured and given electric shocks and forced to accept allegiance to an opposition party.

During his speech, Kharge countered several statistics mentioned in the president’s speech, including those on growth in the number of airports, mortality rate, literacy rate, and rise in foreign direct investments.

Kharge also raised the issue of rising prices of vegetables, milk and cooking oil and said the income of the common people is growing in the single digits but inflation is in double digits.

This was opposed by Piyush Goyal, leader of the House, following which Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked Kharge to authenticate his points.

Replying to it, Kharge said: “I would go to market with Goyal and authenticate it.” On farmers, he said their real income has dropped by 1.5 per cent between 2016-17 and 2020-21 despite the government’s assurance to double their income.

In the last five years, the government failed to spend and surrender more than Rs 1 lakh crore from the budget for agriculture.

Moreover, farmers are not getting the benefit of Fasal Bima Yojana as the insurance companies are denying or reducing claims by inserting some clauses. Around 2.33 crore farmers left this scheme.

On the Manipur violence, Kharge said the prime minister speaks for hours on his favourite topics but keeps mum on Manipur despite houses being burnt and people being killed there.

The government claimed that Naxalism has been finished but security forces have been killed by the Naxalites in Chhattisgarh recently.

Referring to the changes in the rule of appointment of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners, Kharge alleged that the independence and autonomy of the Election Commission is in danger.

He also criticised the government after a video clip purportedly showed Indian shepherds confronting Chinese soldiers after being stopped from grazing their animals in an area in eastern Ladakh.

He also accused the government of weakening the federal structure and said the demands from states ruled by parties other than the BJP such as Karnataka and West Bengal are being denied.

With PTI inputs