New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked Congress leader Shashi Tharoor during his speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in Lok Sabha, PM Modi hit out at the Congress-led UPA regime and said that the 10 years of UPA before 2014 would be remembered as a lost decade.
As PM Modi slammed the Opposition, several Congress leaders, including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Shashi Tharoor walked out of the Parliament. But shortly after, when Tharoor returned to the House, the prime minister thanked him.
Later, while talking to the media outside the Parliament, Tharoor said, “PM gave a good speech but he didn't answer any of the questions that were asked by the Opposition.”
Meanwhile, taking a dig at the UPA, PM Modi said during the previous government, India was discussed for its blackout days and added that the country faced some of the biggest scams when the UPA was at the helm of administration.
Taking potshots at the Opposition over defence deals and the alleged corruption surrounding them, PM Modi said India will always remember the decade before 2014 as the lost decade while the decade of 2030 will be known as India's decade.
Lashing out at the Opposition, PM Modi said the UPA administration was engaged in scams such as coal, 2G, and CWG while overlooking opportunities for the nation’s development.
Prime Minister Modi further said that during 10 years of the UPA government, inflation was in double digits and, therefore, when something good happens, the sadness of the Opposition grows. In the history of the country's independence, 2004-2014 was full of scams. Terror attacks took place across the country in those years, he said.
"In 2010 CWG games were held, it was a big opportunity to show the strength of India's youth to the world but due to scam, India became infamous in the world. The decade before 2014 will be known as the lost decade & we can't deny that 2030s decade is India's decade," PM Modi said.