Failure of NDA govt thoroughly exposed during no-trust debate: Raja

The CPI today said the "failure" of the BJP-led NDA government was thoroughly exposed and efforts to consolidate unity among secular and democratic parties got a boost during the debate on the no-trust motion in the Lok Sabha.

National Secretary of CPI D Raja said though the Narendra Modi government had the numbers to defeat the no-trust motion yesterday, the prime minister has "lost the confidence of the people" as he "failed" to answer any of the substantive issues raised during the debate.

"Though the no-confidence motion was defeated, Opposition parties succeeded in achieving their objective of thoroughly exposing the Narendra Modi government for its failure on all fronts," he told reporters.

"Discontent and disillusionment among the people is growing because of the misrule of the BJP-led NDA. People now realise that the tall claims being made by Modi are far from reality and all his promises are hollow," Raja claimed.

The CPI national secretary said the representatives of political parties raised a wide range of issues and multiple problems confronting the country.

"But the prime minister failed miserably to respond to the questions. He chose to skip many important issues and stood thoroughly exposed," he said and claimed that the prime minister was silent on major issues raised by different political parties relating to Jammu and Kashmir, lynching, unemployment, price rise, plight of farmers and corruption.

Raja claimed that the prime minister did not refer to Jammu and Kashmir where governor's rule has been imposed and the state assembly kept under suspended animation after the BJP snapped its alliance with the PDP.

Referring to the recent incidents of lynching, Raja said the Supreme Court has termed these as "horrendous acts of mobocracy" and urged Parliament to consider enacting a new law to effectively deal with such incidents.

Modi had not uttered a word on this issue too, he said.

Claiming that the prime minister also failed to provide an answer to the problem of growing unemployment, Raja claimed though the BJP had promised to generate two crore employment opportunities every year, the plight of millions of jobless people had multiplied manifold during the last four years.

The CPI leader termed the hike in the MSP of paddy announced by the Centre recently "meaningless" and said it failed to meet the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.

He also accused the BJP of trying "desperately" to use all powers at its command, including its "huge financial power to manipulate public opinion" before the 2019 general elections and asserted that it would not be allowed to happen.

Asserting that dislodging the BJP from power is the CPI's "primary objective" in order to save the country's secular and democratic fabric, Raja claimed that all like-minded parties are now coming together to safeguard the constitutional rights of the citizens.

Efforts to strengthen unity among non-BJP parties received a boost during the debate on no-trust motion in the Lok Sabha yesterday, the CPI leader claimed, and said "Our effort for unity among democratic and secular parties is continuing and we are optimistic about a positive result."