The Congress on Tuesday hit back at the government in Rajya Sabha over the CAA and the NRC, saying it has created these "destructive" issues to divert attention from key challenges like economic slowdown, farm distress and unemployment.
"Triple Talaq, CAA, NPR issues are being talked about by you to divert attention on key issues of unemployment, black money, slow GDP growth.
"Your ideas or proposals are not constructive but destructive," Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said in a discussion on Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.
Azad also expressed the hope that the government would soon realise its "mistake" of bifurcating Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories and bring a bill in this session to restore its statehood.
He was of the view that had the government brought constructive proposals, the opposition would have supported them all through.
Also Read
As in Lok Sabha, the BJP on Tuesday launched a frontal attack on opposition parties specially Congress for their stance against the amended Citizenship Act saying they were trying to divide the nation.
Initiating the debate, senior BJP leader Bhupender Yadav accused the Congress and the Aam Adami Party of giving "moral support" to Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protest.
Azad retorted: "Shaheen Bagh is your creation. You want to run the government, and at the same time play role of opposition and come down on streets also to protest against all issues."
He held the government responsible for not holding of discussions on issues like GDP growth slowdown, rising inflation and recent hike in levies on products like refrigerator, TV, AC, medical equipment, automobiles, tyres etc.
Azad alleged that the government is not doing enough for the modernisation of defence and highlighted the latest CAG report which flagged many issues related to it.
He said that the government cannot keep on abusing neighbouring countries and needs to modernise the defence.
The Congress leader alleged that government's decision of demonetisation led to job loss and there was poor implementation of GST.
He also criticised the government for the way it brought the bill to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir state into two union territories and scrapped its special status.
He told the House that government reports indicate that on a total 114 parameters related to education, health, education, sanitation and food, Jammu and Kashmir's performance was better on 80 indicators than national average.
He said Gujarat scored better on 52 parameters than national average and if performance was the criteria then there are many states which need to reconstituted.
Azad appealed to the government to release all political leaders in the Valley. He claimed the bifurcation of the state has caused loss to industry, agriculture and employment.
"I hope that the government would admit its mistake and bring fresh bill to make Jammu and Kashmir a state," he said.
He also alleged that no minister tried to understand the issue and the government "is on warpath".
He demanded strict action against those MPs and legislators who gave off the cuff remarks on Citizenship Amendment Act, National Population Register and other issues.
He was of the view that since the government "does not take action" against the errant MPs and MLA, it raises doubt on its intentions.
Earlier, as many as 477 amendments to the Motion of Thanks were listed in the House.
During the discussion, Congress leader Kapil Sibal intervened and told the House that he did not make any statement in the court which was referred to by BJP leader Bhupender Yadav while initiating the debate.
Contesting the claim, Yadav said that there are newspaper clippings which would be tabled in the House.
Sibal said that he is denying the statement attributed to him by Yadav.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
