Thiruvananthapuram/Kolkata: CPM General Secretary MA Baby on Monday night reacted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation, saying that the speech cannot replace a structured discussion on the floor of Parliament.

“Democracy is not one-way traffic. The Prime Minister’s televised oration cannot be a substitute for a structured discussion in Parliament on the content of his statement. The government remains answerable in a parliamentary democracy,” Baby said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Earlier in the day, before the Prime Minister’s address, Baby had announced that he had written a letter to Modi, urging him to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the ceasefire developments and other related national concerns.

Following the address, the CPM leader also criticised PM Modi for omitting key points in his speech, including the names of those killed in cross-border shelling.

“In his rhetorical oration, the Prime Minister didn’t even find time to mention those who were killed in cross-border shelling or speak about their families,” Baby said.

He further accused the Prime Minister of failing to acknowledge the role of the people of Jammu & Kashmir in aiding victims of last month’s terrorist attack in Pahalgam.

“The Prime Minister did not utter a word about the courage of the Kashmiri people, their selfless role in helping the victims, or their unequivocal condemnation of the attack,” he said.

Baby also noted that Modi failed to “condemn the hate campaign and defend the Foreign Secretary, who was trolled for being the government’s voice.”
(With IANS inputs)