The Newshour Versus: Ravi Shankar Prasad vs Manish Tewari - Full Debate (2nd Sept 2014)

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• published: 03 Sep 2014
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In a debate moderated by TIMES NOW's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, panelists -- Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP leader & Union Minister for Law & Justice & Communications and Information Technology; and Manish Tewari, Cong leader & & Former Minister, I&B; -- discuss 100 days of Narendra Modi Govt. As PM Narendra Modi's NDA Govt completes 100 days in power, HM Rajnath Singh said today (Sep 2) that Modi's Govt is performing well and most of the people in the country believe this. Rajnath was responding to a question on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's attack on the NDA govt over "price rise" and her party's allegation that there was rise in communal tension in the country. Sonia said in Rae Bareli yesterday that people will give a reply to whether prices of essential commodities have gone down or not. Congress dubbed Modi as a "dream merchant", who came to power by selling "false hopes" and dismissed the 100 days of his rule as high on rhetoric and low on performance. Alleging that BJP captured power by making lofty promises and selling unrealistic dreams, Cong leader Anand Sharma said the 100 days story of Modi govt has proved to be "disappointing." He said BJP govt's functioning has, so far, been "characterised by non-fulfilment of promises, undermining of institutions, compromising of administration and governance and promotion of work culture nurtured by distrust and fear". Sharma asked Modi to "explain why 18 of his ministers are facing serious criminal charges compelling the SC to observe that it is for the PM to ensure that those having criminals charges are not promoted. He is the head of the govt. Why he brought such people in the Cabinet?" Expressing concern over the situation along borders with Pak and China, Sharma said there were ceasefire violations day in and day out from Islamabad, which was witnessed only before the Kargil conflict. He accused the govt of absence of firmness and clarity in dealing with Pak and showing "no maturity" in its foreign policy. Attacking the govt on the black money issue, he said while BJP promised to bring back black money, which was according to them to the tune of 85 lakh crore, "even 85 paisa are yet to come while the govt is completing 100 days". He said this amounted to a "fraud with people", who were "misled". Congress charged that there has been a rise in communal incidents in the country during the NDA coalition's first 100 days in power even as it questioned Modi's "silence" over the matter. Congress leader Manish Tewari said that after the BJP-led govt had assumed power, statements regarding Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code had appeared aimed at undermining communal peace. Further, talking about the 'Love Jihad' controversy, Tewari said, "I still can't understand who can make the words 'love' and 'jihad' part of the same expression. But for communal polarisation, govt has been very successful in doing that. AAP slammed Modi govet for failing to bring back black money and curb corruption even after completion of 100 days in office. The party said that the Modi government failed to control prices of essential commodities. "In the first 100 days of the BJP govt, the prices of diesel, kerosene, milk, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and nearly every essential commodity went up by astronomical levels. And it's not as if farmers benefited from this price rise, as they received lower real minimum support prices, adjusted for inflation," the party said. The party also alleged that the goverment has proposed to loosen the regulations and make as many as 19 amendments in the Land Acquisition Act in a bid to please industrialists without taking care of the environment, farmers and the rural poor.