Referring to Rahul’s criticism of ‘Make in India’ programme, Prime Minister said it was for betterment of the country. “If it does not succeed, we can discuss how to improve it. But I don’t know why we create such an image of our nation that we are out on the streets with a begging bowl”.

Modi countered effectively Rahul quoting Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi on parliamentary disruption, even as he reached out to opposition for supporting improvement in government. Congress leaders pointed out when in opposition, the BJP was righteously disruptive in Parliament; now occupying the treasury benches, it laments use of same tactics by the new Opposition.

Rahul was relaxed, quick to banter and showed willingness to engage; PM was as usual aggressive and sarcastic. Despite several interruptions, Rahul never lost his cool. Both wit and self-deprecating humour, hardly visible in his earlier speeches in Parliament, were on display. Rahul said listening to MGNREGA part of the budget speech, he felt that P Chidambaram, the FM during the UPA regime, was speaking.

Rahul erred in pointing out that the price of petrol had come down from $130 a barrel to Rs.35 per barrel. He quickly corrected himself…..it is $35 a barrel and said “Bhaiya, I am not from RSS, I make mistakes….. I listen to people, try to understand what they are saying and present it to the house”.

Here are some of PM’s best quotes from his reply on the motion of thanks to the President’s address:

“I invite the members of this house to assist in passage of important bills. These bills are for people. These are meant to eliminate middlemen, to make administration more responsive, involve the people to make the foundation of the republic stronger. These are not the words of Narendra Modi, these are words of Rajiv Gandhi. And, we should listen to our elders”.

“Water is being wasted, so how are you doing any service to the country by installing the National Waterways Bill? Whistleblower Protection Bill is citizen centric, what are the arguments for stopping it? We have been hearing forever that “GST bill is ours”. So what is the logic behind blocking its passage?”

“Why is Parliament being disrupted? Not because there is some angst against the government. But because of an inferiority complex. This is because they know that there are some bright, young, persuasive MPs, and they don’t want them to shine”.

“We are joking about Make in India, which is meant for the country. If it has any drawbacks, we should point that out. We should debate it in the house. But why portray an image to the world as India is standing with a begging bowl? Because if we run it down, others will too.”

“We often hear in this house; this is our idea, we had done this. True, some things are your (opposition’s) contribution. You can say that if we had built toilets in all schools in the country, what have you done? That’s the reason my government has built four lakh toilets in schools which you didn’t”.

“You thump your chest, Modiji what happened to your promise of removing poverty? You (opposition) say, you don’t know who we are? We have allowed the roots of poverty to go so deep that you will get uprooted, but you won’t be able make any dent on poverty.”

Referring to the Congress’ jibe on NDA government’s newfound love for MGNREGA, PM said, “If in 60 years, you had been truly able to remove poverty, then may be today 60 years later our country’s poor citizens still wouldn’t have been digging ditches”.

Here are some of notable excerpts from Rahul’s speech:

“In 2014, Modiji had given a speech that I will end black money, I will win battle against money. Whoever earned black money, I will put them in jail. Under Fair and Lovely scheme no one will go to jail, no one will get arrested, no one will be asked. Just go to Arun Jaitley, pay tax and make the black money white.”

“Modiji had said that economy is down, dal is Rs70. When I came to power the prices will come down…. Modiji came and you get Rs200 per kilo dal in the market”.

“You can suppress neither JNU nor the poor people of this country.”

“When I salute the national flag, I am not saluting the cloth. I am saluting the relationships that the flag represents. A Muslim who joins his Hindu brothers to play Holi. Or a Hindu who embraces his Muslim brothers on Eid.”

“What does the PM do? He decides to have a cup of tea with Nawaz Sharif — chai par charcha. The PM singlehandedly destroyed six years of our work. In one move, he personally, took Pakistan out of the little cage in which we had we had put them.” (IPA Service)