New Delhi: Lashing out at the Centre over the President's address, senior Congress MP Anand Sharma said in Rajya Sabha on Monday that whoever wrote the President's address did injustice to the President. He further alleged that neither the shortcomings of the Government were acknowledged in the address nor were any future course of action to resolve them mentioned in it.
"While listening to the President's address I was thinking which great person wrote it. The President did not write it. Whoever wrote it, did injustice to the President. It refused to acknowledge the problems faced by the country. It only pained a golden picture of the country which showed that the country is free of worries, in the top spot in the world in terms of economic progress. We also want the country to progress," said Sharma.
"It is expected that in the President's address that the two houses of the Parliament will be informed about the situation of the country. Shortcomings will be acknowledged and the future course of action will be laid out in the President's address. Unfortunately, these were absent," he added.
Sharma a former Union Minister, also said that there was no mention of national security in the President's address adding that border tension in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh did not find a place in it.
"I am worried that there is no mention of national security, border tension in the address. Neither Ladakh nor Arunachal Pradesh is mentioned," he said.
Criticizing the Centre over the "merging" of the Amar Jawan Jyoti with the National War Memorial, Sharma said "The Amar Jawan Jyoti at India gate was removed and it was said that it was merged. I am a practicing Hindu. I know that flame can't be merged. It was said that the India gate was a Coolinal relic...Where the Netaji statue will be installed, is it also not a colonial relic ?"
"The lines that are being drawn today, the way demands of division is being raised which are being summed in English as hate speech. The way minorities are being attacked, the world is asking should India be like thjs. The Indian diaspora, many of whom are holding high posts in several countries, what will they think of India when such things are happening in the country...I think our PM is capable of responding to us," he added.
