BJP and Left parties felt the address was lacklustre and lacked vision while ally DMK was unhappy that it made no mention of the atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka.
BJP and Left parties were today critical of the Presidential Address, saying it was lacklustre and lacked vision while ally DMK was unhappy that it made no mention of the atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka.
BJP alleged that President Pratibha Patil's Address did not present the big picture about the economy and the steps that the government proposes to take to deal with the crisis.
"The Address does not indicate the steps that the government intends to take in order to revive both the economy and the economic sentiment," BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha SS Ahluwalia told reporters.
Party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Javadekar said the speech was lacklustre.
"The speech is prepared by the government. It is just a list of what has been done which is not enough. It does not say anything about the challenge to federalism and the government's attitude towards the states," he said.
Talking to reporters outside Parliament, he contended that the Central Government is usurping the powers from the state through various laws without consulting the states.
"This is totally an uninspiring speech. Whether it is on the issue of NCTC, RPF, communal violance bill or several bills of the HRD ministry, the state's have not been taken into confidence. This is an attack on federal structure and no mention of this is there in President's speech," he said.
CPI said the Address does not inspire confidence as there was no focus on the problems faced by the people and how the government would tackle it.
"No concrete measure to tackle price rise and unemployment figures in the address and therefore it "fails to inspire confidence," CPI National Secretary D Raja said here.
Raja said the government neither makes its stand clear on the grave situation facing the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, nor on the political settlement it wants there.
"It is not clear as to what the government will do when it goes to Geneva (for a UNHRC conference on the situation in Sri Lanka) on the question of war crimes by the Lankan security forces... whether it would support the resolution (to be moved by the US and other nations) or bring its own resolution," he said.
He said there was also no mention about the safety of Indian fishermen, who were being killed or harrassed regularly by the Srilankan Navy.
The CPI leader asked the government to make its stand clear on these issues.
The absence of any mention of Sri Lankan Tamils caused some discontent in UPA ally DMK too which said India should support a US-sponsored resolution against the island nation.
"There was no mention of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka...there was no mention of the ongoing discussions on the human rights violations in Sri Lanka," DMK leader T R Baalu told reporters after the President's address.
He said India should also support a resolution brought by the US, Norway and France. When asked whether DMK would support the idea of India abstaining on the resolution, he said his party will not support anything "short" of supporting the resolution.
Baalu urged the government to vote in favour of the United States-backed resolution, condemning human rights violations against Tamils in Sri Lanka, at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}