PM Narendra Modi appeals for productive Monsoon Session

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, July 18

In his customary address before the start of a Parliament session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday appealed to all members to make the Monsoon Session as fruitful and productive as possible by using the opportunity for debate and analysis.

“There should be dialogue in Parliament with an open mind; if necessary, there should be a debate. I urge all MPs to deeply analyse and discuss,” he said.

The session is also important because of the election to the office of President and Vice President, the PM said.

“The voting (for Presidential election) is taking place today. During this period, the new President and Vice President will begin guiding the nation,” he said.

Elaborating on the coming 25 years — Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav — Modi said it would be a period to scale new heights.

“This period is very important. It is the period of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. There is a special significance of August 15 and the coming 25 years when the nation would celebrate 100 years of Independence. It would be a time to make a resolve to chart our journey and scale new heights,” the PM said.

The session is expected to be stormy given the Opposition’s mood amid issues it plans to flag, for instance “Agnipath scheme, inflation, unemployment, rupee value crisis, hate speech, misuse of enforcement agencies, demolition of homes of minorities,  and amendment to Forest Conservation Rules”.

The CPM and the Congress have given suspension-of-business notice in Rajya Sabha over the Centre’s Agnipath scheme and other issues, including price rise.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said his party had shortlisted 13 issues for discussion.

These are “attacks on the federal structure, Agnipath scheme, DHFL bank fraud, uncontrolled inflation, rising unemployment, fiscal and rupee value crisis, hate speech, rising crimes in Jammu and Kashmir and attacks on Kashmiri Pandits, collapse of autonomous bodies and constitutional institutions, external threat to national security—Chinese incursion and foreign policy failures, illegal demolition of homes of minorities, undemocratic attack on Congress leaders, and amendment to Forest Conservation Rules”.