India’s Parliament rejects no confidence against motion
NEW DELHI — Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi accused the government of failing to live up to its promises as the Indian Parliament on Friday debated and defeated a no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The motion was defeated by 325-126 votes by the lawmakers.
Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, accused the government of creating only 400,000 new jobs against the 20 million promised in a year. He accused Modi of favouring big business houses in defence and business deals at the expense of poor people.
That angered lawmakers in Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, leading the speaker to briefly adjourn the house proceedings to cool tempers. Gandhi later resumed his speech and at the end of it unexpectedly walked to where Modi was sitting and shook hands and hugged him.