‘Modi-Modi’ slogans raised in Parliament, sensational claim by Nishikant Dubey

The regular proceedings of Parliament remained relatively calm on Monday, while some adjournments were seen in the last few days. Both the Houses continued the discussion on the budget. In the backdrop of the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Delhi Assembly elections, party members raised slogans of ‘Modi-Modi’ in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Today was the first working day of the current budget session of Parliament after the results of the Delhi Assembly elections were declared on February 8. At the same time, a Trinamool member expressed concern over the ‘pathetic condition’ of cricket commentary on All India Radio. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla told Congress member Prashant Pandole during the Question Hour in the House on Monday that he is very lucky because he gets a lot of opportunities to speak in the House. On this, Pandole said that this is due to the blessings of the public and the Lok Sabha Speaker. Claiming that China is building the biggest dam on the Brahmaputra river and it is threatening disasters in India, especially in the north-eastern states, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Dilip Saikia on Monday urged the government to talk to the neighbouring country to stop it. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said action will be taken against banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for violating the procedures laid down for auctioning gold if a borrower fails to repay the gold loan. Replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said NBFCs and scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) are guided by the same rules. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said the Centre has sanctioned Rs 3,019 crore to benefit 6.78 lakh students by 2024 under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme. Under the scheme, the central government guarantees education loans to students without any collateral security. DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran on Monday termed the Union Budget as discriminatory and unjust to the common people of the country and citing an alleged old statement of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, asked if she would resign now. Participating in the discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, Maran also said that a small section of the middle class was given income tax relief in the budget, but the large population of the country was completely ignored. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur on Monday accused the Congress of giving importance to one family instead of the country during its rule and said that during the previous UPA government, the country was ‘Scam India’, which has become ‘Saksham Bharat’ today under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Former Union Minister Thakur, while participating in the discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, said that there was ‘tax terrorism’ in the country during the Congress governments, but today the Modi government has given a big relief to crores of middle class people by making income up to Rs 12 lakh tax free for the first time. He said that the opposition is neither concerned about the middle class nor the poor and hence it is not happy with these announcements. He claimed that the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had called the budget a ‘bandage budget’. Thakur said that this is a ‘booster shot budget’. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey, claiming that the American organization ‘USAID’ gave money to various organizations to divide India, on Monday demanded from the government that an inquiry should be conducted in this matter and those found guilty should be put in jail. Dubey once again reiterated his allegation of Congress having links with American businessman George Soros. Dubey raised the question whether ‘USAID’ gave money to the Taliban? He said that the opposition should tell whether this American organization gave money to some organizations promoting terrorist and Naxalite activities or not.