It was smooth sailing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's NDA as it won the support of 325 members of the Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion. One hundred and twenty six MPs out of the total 451, however, backed the motion appealed by the Opposition. While members of the Shiv Sena, BJD and TRS were not present in the House when the voting took place, several AIADMK members opposed the motion in a major boost to the NDA.
Replying to a 12 hour debate on the motion, Modi stole the show with a trademark speech as he appealed to all parties to defeat it and accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of “crushing” the truth and “playing with national security” by making allegations against him on the Doklam issue and by speaking of graft in the Rafale aircraft deal. Just hours after Gandhi left everyone in shock by walking across to the PM's chair to hug him, Modi took a dig at him saying he appeared to be in a hurry to occupy his seat. “What is his hurry to come to power? Let me tell this member, it is the people who elected us. That is how we have come here,” he said.
The PM said his fate was in the hands of 125 crore people, adding that he prayed to Lord Shiva who was invoked by Gandhi in his speech, and the countrymen, that the Congress leader bring a similar no-confidence motion in 2024. Modi cited several development and welfare initiatives while hitting out at the Opposition. He said the country has seen how much negativity has seeped into his rivals that they were speaking against the progress made by the country.
The parties, he said, which could not even stand each other have got together to remove him. But he had the people's blessings, Modi said as he recited verses and shlokas to describe the opposition as a decrepit ship without a captain. He said this was not his government's floor test but a “force test” that the Congress has done to see which parties have sided with it. Modi stated, without naming Gandhi, that due to his “careless” allegation on the Rafale deal, both India and France had to release statements.
He has asserted complete transparency in the deal. Referring to Gandhi's meeting with Chinese diplomats during the standoff, he said, “What have we come to? Everything does not merit a childish conduct.”
