Modi govt not a gamechanger but only a namechanger: Congress counters Amit Shah's debut RS speech

Gulam Nabi Azad congratulates Amit Shah on maiden speech, says I was surprised to see that Amit Shah did not talk about Sardar Patel in his speech.

Azad said in last 29 years there has been no Prime Minister from Gandhi family or even a minister, so how did you get rid of the dynasty when there was no dynastic politics.

On appeasement, Azad said today a different form of appeasement is taking place. There is only one party and people of their choice and belonging are getting employed and opportunities.

Replying to BJP, Azad said that the Modi is the government is not game changer they are just namechangers. Azad said that this government has changed just names of the schemes launched by the Congress and packaged it as their own.

Azad then gave examples of the schemes that he said were renamed by the BJP government. He said the Jan Awshadi Scheme had become the Prime Minister's Jan Awshadi Scheme. He also said the National Child Programme, started by the UPA government in 2008, was renamed the Beti Bachaao Programme.

Citing price rise under BJP rule and Azad said, "There used to be Bharat bandhs when the prices rose while our government was in power. Today, the price of the cylinder, which used to be Rs 350 during our rule, is over Rs 800. The price of grains, pulses and vegetables has risen by 300 times under the BJP."

Azad said that "petrol and diesel have now become much more expensive than what they used to be during the UPA government's rule."

"The Beti Bacchao Beti Padhaao scheme was earlier there in 161 districts, now gone up to 600 districts. The budget allocated earlier for this was Rs. 200 crore and it should have gone up to Rs. 800 crore, but in reality, has only Rs. 80 crore allocated to it in the budget," he further said.

'Better to sell pakodas than not work at all', Amit Shah in debut Rajya Sabha speech

In his debut speech, BJP President Amit Anil Chandra Shah lists his governments achievements. "Earlier, forget electricity, there was not even an electricity pole in many parts of the country. The NDA government has come in and changed that," said Shah.

"When Modi was elected a house leader, he gave a historic speech, stating that these governments would be the government of Gandhi and the Deendayal. I am proud to say that for three and a half years, this government has been running on the principle of Antyodaya," said the BJP.

He also touches upon the 'Modicare' and the various schemes the government has taken to help the farmers. He touches upon the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Vikas Yojana, says that it is the best scheme of it's kind that the country has seen, and that hopefully the government will be able to take it forward for another four years.

The biggest reform we have done is GST. BJP had never been against GST, said Shah, we had just criticised the way in which it would have been implemented. He says that he has studied the tax structure in depth and that, contrary to the criticism, the small and medium traders will face no issue because of the implementation.

"I am elated to say that one crore 30 lakh people given up their gas subsidy on the request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

Shah took on senior Congress leader P Chidambaram for his 'pakoda' jibe and said it was "better to sell pakodas than to beg".

"What sort of mentality is this? There is no shame in selling pakodas. Comparing him to a beggar is shameful," he further said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in a recent interview that a person selling pakodas was employed. "Those selling pakodas are self-employed. Can you compare them with beggars," he asked and pointed out that a "chaiwala's (tea-seller) son has become the Prime Minister today."

In a scathing attack on Congress, he said that "for 70 years this country was run just by one family. At one point people started believing that this is how things will be. They had lost hope. The Congress, backed by the left-government, did not even increase the minimum wage as much as the Narendra Modi government has done.

Many came to power with "Gareebi Hatao" slogans, but it is only BJP has worked towards it. Today, there is a new hope, an optimism across the country. Yes, we acknowledge that employment and jobs are an area of concern. In fact, we are very happy to see the opposition talk so much about it. But let me ask them. The current day scenario is there after 60 years of your rule.It tells directly of the job you did. This is the result of the so-called work you have done, Shah said.

We are a government that takes decisions that ensure the betterment of the people, not one that just says things to please them. We take tough decisions so that the country becomes strong, he said.

Rajya Sabha adjourned over fake Noida encounter

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned on Monday till 2 pm after the house witnessed a protest by the Samajwadi Party (SP) over the Noida fake encounter issue.

The proceedings begin at 11 am hours with the tabling of the listed papers, after which the Zero Hour is held where members raise issues of public interest. The Question Hour, where MPs can ask the government questions about various policies takes place at noon.

Usually when the proceedings are disrupted soon after the House assembles for the day, the Chair adjourns the proceedings for shorter durations, generally till 1200 hours.

At noon, the Question Hour is announced and if the disruptions recur, the proceedings are adjourned again.

But on Monday, when Samajwadi Party MPs trooped into the Well raising slogans against alleged encounter killings by the police in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Naidu adjourned the proceedings straightaway till 1400 hours.

Members of the Aam Aadmi Party AAP too were in the Well, apparently raising the issue of sealing of commercial establishments in Delhi.

Congress member Ramachandra Rao too came into the Well holding a banner that read "Do Justice to Andhra Pradesh" in protest against the state not finding a mention in the Union Budget for 2018-19 presented last week.

Naresh Agrawal (SP) had given a notice under rule 267 seeking adjournment of proceedings to take up a discussion on the issue of fake encounters, which was rejected by Naidu who said the matter could be raised through a different notice.

"I don't want to run the House like this," Naidu remarked as SP, AAP and the lone Congress member trooped into the Well of the House.

"Let us not have an encounter of Zero Hour," he said as members shouted slogans. "This is not the way," he said an ordered that slogan shouting would not go on record.

He asked Rao to go back to his place and sternly told Agrawal, who insisted on being allowed to at least mention the issue, that "nobody can dictate" to him.

"You don't want the House to run. You don't want Question Hour," he told the agitated members as he called for Zero Hour mentions.

Derek O'Brien (TMC) rose to make his Zero Hour submission but nothing could be heard in the din.

An upset Naidu remarked that the members were determined not to allow the proceedings and wanted to create trouble to get publicity. He then adjourned the proceedings till 1400 hours.

PTI