Day 3 Of No-Trust Debate In Parliament, PM's Reply Today: 10 Points

Speaking during the no-confidence debate today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there is a need to understand the Indian economy from the perspective of what is happening globally. She said the global economy had grown by just 3% in 2022 and the World Bank has forecast that this will decline to 2.1% in 2023. "The same Morgan Stanley that had listed India among the five most fragile economies in 2013 has now upgraded the Indian economy and has given it a higher rating," the minister said.

Ms Sitharaman said that, due to the government's policies, India is now the fastest-growing economy despite the Covid setback. "Our real GDP growth was 7.2% in 2022-23 and it is projected to grow at 6.5% in 2023-24. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reformed our policies so much that we are recovering the fastest after the Covid pandemic," she said

Hitting out at the Congress and the opposition, the finance minister said the people of India have been hearing about 'Garibi Hatao' for six decades. "Was poverty removed from the country? No. The UPA government had issued a post-dated cheque on this. But that is not what we do. We have clearly been able to reduce poverty, and there is still some work left," Ms Sitharaman said. She added that people used to talk about things in the future tense that something would be built or that they would get something, but now they discuss it in the present tense that it has been built and they have got something.

The parliament witnessed a fierce debate last two days with the Opposition accusing the government of creating a great divide in Manipur. The government has defended its actions, focusing primarily on its welfare work.

Addressing the parliament yesterday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi questioned why the Prime Minister has not visited Manipur yet. "The Prime Minister has not gone to Manipur because he doesn't consider it a part of India. You (BJP) have divided Manipur," he said amid loud protests from the treasury benches.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented a report card of the centre in terms of fighting Covid and the drugs menace. He also clarified the government's efforts in addressing the Manipur violence and alleged the no-confidence motion was brought to "mislead people".

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has confirmed that the Prime Minister will be present in the Lok Sabha on Thursday to reply to the no-confidence motion. The opposition had been demanding that the Prime Minister speak on the Manipur issue in parliament.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which has 331 members in the Lok Sabha, is expected to sail through the no-trust vote. The BJP alone has 303 MPs in the Lower House where the majority mark is 272.

The opposition INDIA alliance has 144 MPs and its tally can go up to 152 if it can win the nine votes of the BRS. Besides, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP and Naveen Patnaik's BJD have 34 members together. BJD is not backing the no-trust motion.

The opposition has been demanding a discussion on Manipur, but the government had asserted the Prime Minister will not address the House on the issue. The opposition argues that the no-trust motion will help them win the "battle of perception" by cornering the government and compel the PM to address the issue in the parliament.