Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speaks in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday
Members from Opposition and treasury benches had a heated exchange of words in Rajya Sabha today over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks in Canada that he wanted to clean the dirt of 60 years in the country, forcing three adjournments in the pre-lunch session.
Rejecting the Opposition charge that PM Modi was lowering the "dignity" of the country by making such remarks abroad, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Prime Minister was "perfectly entitled" to say that his government will break away from what happened in last 60 years and give a clean government.
He also took jibes at both Janata Dal (United) and CPI(M) wondering whether they thought that India is not defamed by "acts of corruption" but by referring to those acts.
Congress Deputy Leader Anand Sharma raised the issue through a notice for suspension of business under Rule 267 to discuss PM Modi's remarks alleging that the Prime Minister lowered the prestige and dignity of the country, a contention which was supported by members from other Opposition parties including Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal (United).
Vehemently countering the charge, Mr Jaitley said while he can understand the Congress benches getting upset with the talk of cleaning up corruption, he was surprised at the remarks of JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav and those of the CPI-M leaders.
"I am surprised with this new-found dialectics of the morals of the CPI-M. According to this new ideology... India is not defamed by acts of corruption. India is defamed only when you refer to the acts of corruption," he said.