On 9th August 2023, Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the Lok Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament. Amit Shah was answering the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition. He spoke for 2 hours and 13 minutes, breaking a 58-year-old record of the longest speech in the house. In 1965, former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri spoke for 2 hours and 12 minutes in a debate on a no-confidence motion, and Amit Shah broke that record by a minute.
The main portions of the speech by Union Home Minister Amit Shah are as follows:
“Opposition member Gaurav Gogoi brought the no-confidence motion. The sole purpose of this motion is to confuse the people. There is no question of the government being in the minority. The people also believe in the government because Narendra Modi’s government has filled their lives with hope through its performance. I go in the people. I talk to the people. Nowhere is this so-called ‘no-confidence feeling’ among people. Narendra Modi’s government is the most loved government in this country post-independence. People elected a government with a full majority consecutive twice after 30 years.”
“Narendra Modi is the most popular leader and prime minister of this country. He has worked the most. He has travelled the most. Many governments operate for multiple terms and do a handful of memorable tasks achieved. Narendra Modi has a list of achievements in his two terms as compared to a handful of tasks by others. All the electoral wins and losses before 2014 were affected by corruption, dynastic politics and appeasement politics. Modi has changed it into a politics of performance. But still, we see these three things in some places in the country. Therefore the Prime Minister has said ‘Quit India’ to these three things.”
“Bringing a no-confidence motion is the right of opposition. It exposes the real character of partners in an alliance. In July 1993, there was a no-confidence motion against the government of PV Narasimha Rao. They won it, but later many MPs were jailed as Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was bribed for voting in favour of the government. In 2008, Manmohan Singh’s government faced a no-confidence motion. MPs came with bundles of notes in the parliament and exposed the cash-for-vote scam. In 1999, a no-confidence motion was brought against Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We could have also saved the government by buying MPs at that time. But our party did not do that. The government lost by just one vote. But we proved our character. UPA’s character is that of corrupt practices to save the government. BJP and NDA have a character of principles. People watch everything. People know everything. We lost by one vote and then Atal Ji won a historic mandate for NDA. I want to recall people that this is a fight between those who buy votes by spending crores and those who leave the power position for principles.”
“People talked about the welfare of the poor. Congress fooled people by slogans of Remove Poverty. Poverty remained as it is. Narendra Modi did not make big promises, but he performed because he himself comes from a poor family. I need to discuss the performance of the government because this motion is politically motivated. Modi Ji sent cooking gas cylinders to more than 9 crore families and the households got rid of the smoke from stoves. 11 crore families did not have toilets. The government provided it to the poor. There was no clean drinking water to so many households. 12.65 crore households got a tap water connection from our government. In every election, the opposition promises a loan waiver to farmers. They claim that they the waived Rs 70000 crore loan of farmers. We work to make a country where farmers get rid of this vicious cycle of loans. We sent Rs 240000 crore rupees to their accounts.”
“We do not believe in a freebies culture. We first surveyed who has land holding less than 2.5 acres and what are the expenses for that. We calculated it to be Rs 6000 for making the soil ready to sow the seeds. We gave that money directly to the farmers. Similarly, for affordable health services, 50 crore people are eligible to get free medical services to Rs 5 lakh per year. when we brought the Jan Dhan Scheme, people made fun of that scheme. I want to tell them, we opened 49 crore 65 lakh bank accounts. These accounts have Rs 200000 crore for the poor and people get DBT money from various schemes of the state and central governments. Rajiv Gandhi once said that his government sends one rupee but the poor gets 15 paise. I want to ask who used to get the remaining 85 paise. Those who opposed Jan Dhan Scheme are the ones who ate up those 85 paise of the poor. We gave Rs 25 lakh crores to the bank accounts of the poor people in this country directly through various schemes.”
“During the Coronavirus pandemic, we preferred to rise above party differences. Narendra Modi led that battle. We could succeed because the central government, state governments and all the people in India fought together against Coronavirus. Leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav demeaned the vaccine by saying that ‘Don’t take this Modi vaccine’. The Modi government gave free vaccines by administering 2 free doses of the vaccine to all the 130 crore people in the country.”
“Everyone said what will the poor eat if you administer a lockdown? We administer lockdown and at the same time, we ensured every poor gets a 5-kilogram ration per month and 80 crore people are still getting it. The opposition may not have confidence in the government but the people of India, especially the poor, have full confidence in this Modi government.”
“There is a leader in this house who has been launched in politics 13 times and he failed every time. I have seen one of the launchings. He went to a poor woman Kalavati to have a meal and describe the heart-wrenching condition of hers here. After that, his party was in power for 6 years after that. What did Kalavati get from them? Nothing. She received a gas cylinder, toilet, tap water, and free ration during the Modi government’s tenure.”
“Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government brought the nation from the 15th economy to the 11th economy. After him, an economist Dr Manmohan Singh somehow managed to keep it on 11th rank with all his expertise. Narendra Modi, with no economic background and who comes from a humble family, brought the country up as the fifth biggest economy. And all the experts in the world say that India is a bright spot in dark times.”
When Adhir Ranjan Choudhury intervened, Amit Shah said, “Your party did not put your name on the list to speak and you are intervening in my speech. You please be quiet. You don’t know the process?”
“In all the emerging sectors of global economics, Modi Government has laid a strong foundation so that India will emerge as the strongest economy in the coming times. We built airports taking the number up from 74 to 148. Vande Bharat semi-high-speed trains have started, Sagarmala project is almost 50 per cent complete. Port capacities have increased multiple folds and Bharat Net lines are laid in many areas of the country. We increased the number of seats for medical courses too.”
“Narendra Modi increased the respect of India in the world. India sets the narrative whether it is climate change or global warming. We are hosting G20 also. Narendra Modi is the only leader to get the highest civilian award of 14 different countries and we believe that this is the award given to all the people of the country and not Modi alone.”
“During UPA rule terrorists would enter the country, behead the soldiers and go back beyond the borders. No one would dare to give a befitting reply. Narendra Modi’s government executed two surgical strikes when Pakistan attacked. CDS is also one of the issues which was initiated in your times but settled by us. UPA governments have seen scams in defence procurements. Our government put many things on the no-import list and ensured that no scams occur in procurement, rather we produce it in-house and export it as well. This is Atmanirbhar Bharat. Rs 42000 crore was allotted to one rank one pension issue.”
“We operated 90 flights, talked to both countries, stopped the war for three days and brought Indians safely back home in the Russia-Ukraine war. Similarly, we brought Indians back during the Yemen crisis and before the Coronavirus lockdown as well. We have successfully built last-point connectivity even on the Indo-China border. We have also empowered the farmers so much that India is producing record grains. We are also administering a record of 896 lakh metric ton grains purchased at MSP which is 88% more than that in the UPA government. We have worked on the MSP the most among all the governments to date. We have decided to keep the MSP at 50 per cent more than the expenses incurred by the farmers to produce it. We have not only purchased more, but we have also given a higher rate of purchase to the farmers.”
“The opposition is not a wellwisher of farmers, the poor, and the backward classes. They do not see anything beyond their families. Narendra Modi has said today, dynasty politics Quit India, appeasement Quit India, and corruption Quit India.”
“PFI was working for disintegrating the nation by altering demography and inciting people. We acted and in a single day, we banned it and jailed many PFI members. We also took a strong stand against attacks on the Indian embassies in foreign countries. NIA is probing it. We will use UAPA against terrorist activities. We declared 54 people as terrorists under UAPA and no country took an objection. Gogoi was talking about narcotics. Let me be clear, Narendra Modi’s government has taken a zero-tolerance policy on narcotics. We have empowered the system with various dedicated, portals, departments and teams. 10 lakh kilograms of the narcotics we seized.”
“Gogoi Ji, numbers are shameless. And they remain even after us. There was a government in 2006 that seized drugs of 152000 kilograms worth Rs 768 crores till 2013. From 2014 to 2022 we seized 372000 kilograms of drugs worth Rs 18000 crores. And you question us? You may not have confidence but people do have. The number of cases has gone up from 1200 to 3700 because we are taking action against it. Your government did not act. 3 crore youths and 2 crore women were brought together under Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan taking the total number of participants to 9 crores.”
“Three main hotspots of internal security are identified as Kashmir, Leftist extremism, and northeastern India issues. India’s policy changed towards Kashmir after 2014. Our efforts are consistent to free Kashmir from terrorism. I urge the minister of parliamentary affairs to give 30 minutes time from our slot to Adhir Ranjan Choudhury who did not get any time from his party and keeps talking in between when I am addressing the house here. Narendra Modi took the key decision of abrogating Article 370 forever. 370 was a blunder by Jawaharlal Nehru. Now there are no double flags and double governments in Kashmir. An NGO close to the opposition says to talk to Hurriyat, Jamiat, and Pakistan. We will not talk to them anymore. We will talk only to the youths of the valley. Lakhanpur Toll tax where Shyamaprasad Mukherjee was arrested is not there anymore. In Kashmir, we gave reservations to backward communities and we formed the Women’s Commission, children’s Commission, and Dalit Commission. We gave domicile to Dalits who came there from Pakistan but did not get any domicile for generations. Mufti, Abdulla and Gandhi – these three families ruled Kashmir. For the first time, we administered free and fair democratic elections in the valley. Stone pelting has stopped now. Jammu and Kashmir’s police are active for the first time after 1990. We protected temples, grew tourism, and give the properties of Hindus back to them. In 2022, 1 crore 80 lakh tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir. After 33 years there are theatres, night shows, Shikara competitions, and Muharram as well. 68% reduction in terrorist incidents and 82% less civilian deaths, 56% fewer deaths of security personnel is a testimony of our work.”
“Leftist extremism numbers are also no different. From 118 districts, leftist extremism has now reduced to only 45 districts. We have acted consistently against it with a zero-tolerance policy. We achieved this through a development program as we empowered people and opened new CRPF camps. We involved NIA to hamper funding of leftist extremism. Jharkhand Bihar Orissa MP Telangana Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh was their target area. Now the major problem has reduced only to Chhattisgarh and we will finish this leftist extremism soon.”
“Northeast was considered the third hotspot of internal security. Violent incidents and deaths of security persons were reduced by 68 per cent. Civilian deaths were reduced by 82 per cent. For the ten years before our government, there were UPA governments in the northeast states. We made the northeast a priority. We connected it by road, rail, and airports – according to experts. But in fact, the closeness is not experienced in means of transport. It is felt by a heart-to-heart connection. PM Modi visited the northeast more than 50 times. It is an area greater than Uttar Pradesh and it was left just like that. We envision a flood-free northeast. We did not pacify the northeast just like that. We have worked hard for that. More than 8000 armed extremists surrendered during our tenure. We are also gradually lifting the AFSPA away. There is some work pending and that too will be completed by us only.”
“I will now talk about the Manipur issue. The violent incidents, their causes, and our actions are what I will cover in detail. I agree that violence took place there. We don’t support any of it but this is erupting out of certain situations which we need to discuss and understand. The incident there was shameful, but politicising it is more shameful.”
“People of the nation were shown a picture that government is not ready to discuss. I want to bring it to your notice that I demanded a discussion in the house by writing a letter to the speaker even before the session was declared. The fact is that they did not want discussion. The opposition thinks that they can silence us by making noise here. You can’t silence us because people have sent us here and voted us to power.”
“I want to recall the history because people need to understand the ethnic violence in Manipur. In Manipur, there is a BJP government for the last 6 years and till 3rd May 2023, there was not a single-day curfew, bandh, blockade, and extremist violence was almost nil. In 2021, there was a change in the regime in Myanmar. their democratic government collapsed and army rule took over. Kuki Democratic Front in Myanmar started an agitation for a democratic government. Because we share an open border with Myanmar, Kukis in Myanmar shifted to Manipur jungles which changed the demography. We took its cognizance and started fencing work. 10-kilometre fencing is completed. 60 kilometre is under construction and 600 kilometre is pending. Due to demographic changes, we started to identify refugee Kukis and started to collect their thumb impressions, eye impressions, and other details. We made their IDs. Marked them other than India’s voter list and AADHAR list.”
“According to a 1968 pact with Myanmar people 40 kilometres from either side of the border need no passport. A rumour spread on 29th April that certain areas of jungles are declared towns. The problem escalated more by the Manipur High Court decision ruling that the Meitei community a tribal. On 3rd May 2023, riots started. These riots have emerged out of a situation. After military rule in Myanmar, drug trafficking is also affected. The tipping point was the judgment of the court.”
“In 1993, a Naga-Kuki ethnic fight erupted in Manipur which lasted for one and a half years. At that time, the Prime Minister did not answer. MoS Rajesh Pilot answered at that time. And you people ask why PM is not visiting. And you are not ready to listen to my answer. In your times, MoS answered. And now you are asking for an answer by PM. In your times, no minister visited there. There was ethnic violence during the Inder Kumar Gujaral government’s tenure. Nobody answered. Nobody even asked for an answer. When I am ready to answer, you stalled the parliament. In 2004, 1700 people were unilaterally encountered during Manmohan Singh’s tenure. People believe that it was ethnic violence by wearing a uniform which I do not believe because I believe in the system. But nothing happened during your time and here is a Prime Minister like Modi who called me in the middle of the night over this issue and he also woke me up in the morning by a call regarding this issue only.”
“We have changed the DGP, security advisor and many other officials with immediate effect. One should even change the CM if he does not cooperate. But here is a chief minister who is cooperating in this situation. And you ask why don’t we apply 356 here? Till now 152 people are killed in that violence. 107 in May, 30 in June, 15 in July and 4 in August. In May, 658 people were killed in the first three days only. This indicates that the violence is decreasing gradually. We should try to decrease the violence. But what did Rahul Gandhi do? He politicised it by going to Chura Chandrapur by road when we were offering him a helicopter ride. He went there by road to flaunt his so-called Satyagrah and while coming back, he came back by helicopter. 1106 FIRs are registered till today.”
“The viral video is of an unfortunate incident that took place on 4th May. No one can support such a condemnable act. I want to ask this because media personnel have sowed this question in my mind. If someone has this video, should he not give it to the DGP? Why this was made public just before the monsoon session? Anyone who had the video should have given it to the DGP. As soon as the video surfaced we arrested all the 9 people involved in that act and they are today facing trials.”
“I lived there for 3 days and 3 nights. MoS Home Minister Nityanand Rai lived there for 23 days which is a record. A commission of retired high court judges, an IPS and an IAS is formed. The resentment is not reduced but violence is under control because a force of 36000 security forces is deployed there which are chaired by the security advisor we have appointed. An SIT is formed to probe six conspiracy cases. 30000 metric tons of rice is sent for relief. All DMs are equipped with video conferencing for hearings. Students have started their schooling by video conferencing now. All the situations are monitored from here by unified command. We believe that we will contain the violence in minimum time as compared to the violence during all other governments’ tenures. I appeal to the tribes in Manipur with folded hands on behalf of both houses, that violence is not the way towards a solution. I would urge everyone not to politicise it. someone has lost his life someone has lost dignity. However distantly situated, they all are our people.”
“Now I will answer the political allegations. Gaurav Gogoi gave a lot of numbers regarding ethnic violence in Manipur. I would like to tell him that Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi’s regimes collectively hold the record for most communal and ethnic violence of various kinds across the nation and I will read out the list now. Will you listen to an appeal for peace only after I threaten you? We never stalled the house like the opposition is doing.”
“Gaurav Gogoi said that institutions are tarnished. What did Indira Gandhi do? She made Hansraj Khanna a judge bypassing four judges and brought him to her case. She snatched the rights of UPSC. She curbed the rights of JNU. Supriya Sule said that the BJP collapsed the state government in Maharashtra. Let me tell her, it was Sharad Pawar who for the first time sacked a government in Maharashtra with the support of Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1978 by backstabbing Vasant Dada Patil.”
“Gaurav Gogoi mentioned the China issue. It is true that Modi ji met the Chinese leader in some international meetings, but he did not raise the slogans of Hindi Chinin Bhai Bhai. The Chinese embassy has a picture of Gandhi’s family meeting during the Olympic games.”
“Recently, a Newsclick issue was unearthed. Newsclick bats for Congress and its allies and it is run on the money received by China. UPA changed its name. Do you know why? UPA regime is credited to scams worth Rs 12 lakh crores. I could not count beyond them. UPA parties did scams like Bofors, cash for note, Satysm, Adarsh, National Herald, DLF, Chara, Ghaziabad Provident Fund, Harshad Mehta, Hasan Ali, IPL, 2G, CWG, Coal, Submarine, and what not. They did not have any alternative than changing the name. We need not change our name because we did not commit any such scam. NDA gave stability for 10 years. Congress gave support to many coalition governments but sacked each of them. Instability is what they seek.”
“We instilled patriotism in the minds of all children of the country in the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. We will start the Amrit Kaal as we complete the 75th year of independence. You may not have confidence in us, but the people of the country have undeterred confidence in us.”
