‘No Question Of PM’s Apology’: Govt. To Opposition
NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise in Parliament for suggesting that the opposition supports black money, the Congress and other parties said today, disrupting both houses for yet another day of the winter session. The government has rejected the demand.
The opposition alleges that a dig PM Modi made this morning at critics of his ban on 500 and 1,000 rupee notes was aimed at them. “Some people criticising the demonetisation don’t have a problem with the government’s preparedness; their problem is that they didn’t get time to prepare,” the Prime Minister said at an event in Delhi.
PM Modi said it was important to keep the decision to ban high value notes, aimed at combating black money and money laundering, secret because the government did not want to give time to people with black money to launder their cash.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said in the Rajya Sabha that the PM had “wrongly accused opposition of holding black money” and that he must, “come to the house and apologise.” Opposition lawmakers filled the well or centre of the house shouting slogans.
“PM today said the opposition is favouring black money, this is a serious allegation against the entire Opposition, he must apologise,” Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, pointing out that opposition leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the Congress, have stressed that they are against black money.
There is no question of PM Modi apologising, said Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the Rajya Sabha.The Lok Sabha saw similar scenes of protest over the Prime Minister’s comments, with opposition lawmakers forcing an early adjournment of the lower house.
The opposition has held up proceedings in parliament ever since the winter session began , demanding that PM Modi explain the currency ban in the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority.
The government finally gave in to that demand and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said PM Modi would speak in the upper house on the notes ban. PM Modi was present in the Rajya Sabha for a while on Thursday and heard Dr Manmohan Singh speak.
But when he did not return to the house after a lunch break the opposition forced the house to adjourn again saying the PM must sit through the entire debate in the Rajya Sabha.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said PM Modi should stop speaking on the notes ban outside and speak in parliament instead. “The Prime Minister initially laughed while talking about the notes ban, then he had cried a few times. Come to parliament and then see what happens. What emotion we see from Modiji,” Mr Gandhi said..
