From sarcastically thanking the Opposition for helping "lotus bloom" to mocking it for "shying away from using Nehru as their surname", Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered another fiery speech in Parliament on Thursday. He was replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in the Rajya Sabha even as Opposition leaders shouted slogans of "Modi-Adani bhai bhai".

Here are some top quoted from PM Modi's speech in Parliament:

> PM Modi warned states and asked then not to "play with the financial aspect of the country" while giving example of "neighbouring countries" like Pakistan and Sri Lanka which are dealing with economic crisis.

> "They misused Article 356... they brought down the chosen government 90 times...Indira Gandhi used Article 356 50 times," Modi said while taking a dig at previous Congress regimes. Article 356 of the Constitution empowers the Centre to impose its direct rule over any state, known as the President's Rule.

> PM Modi asked why those from Nehru clan don't want to keep "Nehru" as their surname. "I read it in some newspaper, I wasn't able to verify but the report said that 600 government programmes were in Nehru-Gandhi's name. They are perturbed if Nehruji's name is not mentioned anywhere or is missed...but I don't understand one thing, why anyone from the Nehru clan is scared of keeping 'Nehru' as their surname...what are they ashamed of?"

> PM Modi said those in opposition don't the difference between jobs and employment. "With green economy, India has developed the opportunity of green jobs," he said.

> "They have left no stone unturned to humiliate our scientists...There was pressure from people in world to sell their (COVID) vaccine in our market. Articles were written, TV interviews were given. There were attempts till yesterday to insult our scientists. But my country's scientists made vaccines that were approved and benefitted 150 countries."

> "We identified 110 aspiration districts in the country. Education, infrastructure and health have improved in these districts due to continued focus and performance review. This has benefitted more than 3 crore tribals."

> "When anyone comes to the government, he comes with some promise for the country, but just expressing feelings does not help. What is the speed of development, what is the foundation, direction, effort and result of development, it matters a lot," the PM said.

> "They (Congress) used to say ‘Gareebi Hatao’ but did nothing for over four decades. While we work hard to meet the expectations and aspirations of the people of the country," Modi said .

> PM Modi said we have taken the pledge of saturation. "This is a solutions to all the problems faced by India and an individual. Attaining saturation means to eradicate any possibility of inequality (bhed bhav ki saari gunjaiye khatma karna)... True secularism is making sure that the benefits of different government schemes reach all eligible beneficiaries."

> In a sardonic response to the Congress' allegation against him over the Adani issue, the prime minister "thanked" the Opposition and said, "jitna kichad uchaaloge, kamal utna hi jyada khilega (more the mud you throw, the better the lotus will bloom )". "That's why, I am thankful to those who help the lotus bloom more and more," PM Modi said.

> "Aaj hum permanent solution ki disha me aage badh rahe hain, hum ek ek vishay ko choo kar ke bhaagne waale log nahi, desh ki avashyaktao ko permanent solution dene aage badh rahe hain (Today, we are moving towards permanent solutions. We don’t run away after creating issues by picking up topics. We focus on important needs of the country and move towards finding solutions)"

> Even after these many years of India's independence, 18,000 villages did have electricity. Most of these villages were where Advasis (tribes) lived. This issue didn't fall in their (Congress) election propagandawe decided to take up this challenge. we pledged to give electricity to these villages...we chose the path of hard-work and now we can see that India is touching heights in the field of energy"

> "Kharge Ji complains that I visit Kalaburagi. He should see the work done there. Rs 1.70 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts have opened in Karnataka, including over 8 lakh accounts in Kalaburagi. So many people are getting empowered, while someone's account getting closed. I can understand the pain," PM Modi said.

The Opposition has been accusing PM Modi of colluding with the Adani Group and giving favours to the company during its rule They have also been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) or Supreme Court-led probe into the Hindenberg-Adani row. Some MPs even staged a walkout during Prime Minister's reply in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

First Published:Feb 9, 2023 2:15 PM IST