President's address masks government's failures: CPI

New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) The Communist Party of India on Wednesday said President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint sitting of Parliament failed to touch major issues faced by the nation, and was devoid of substance and accountability.

CPI general secretary D Raja alleged that the high constitutional stature of the President is being used as a "shield" to deflect scrutiny from the Modi government's failures.

Reacting to the President's address, party MP P Sandosh Kumar said it "masks the government's failures".

In a post on X, Raja said the address carefully avoids the real crises gripping the country.

"Unending violence in Manipur, denial of democratic normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, the steady fall of the rupee, the terrorist attack near the Red Fort, and the systematic financial squeeze on Kerala and other States find no mention.

"Equally disturbing is the silence on rising violence against women and children and the growing sense of insecurity that pervades everyday life. Silence has become a substitute for accountability," he said.

"The high constitutional stature of the President is being used as a shield to deflect scrutiny from the Modi Government's failures. Parliament must not be reduced to a platform for recycled slogans while society is being pushed towards dangerous polarisation. The people of India deserve truth, data and democratic responsibility, not annual exercises in self congratulation," the CPI general secretary said.

CPI MP Kumar said the address was a repetition of the same-old rhetorical claims of the Modi government.

"The address was a repetition of the same-old rhetorical claims of the Modi government, conspicuously devoid of substance, accountability, or credible data, while glossing over the deepening crisis facing the country," he said in a statement.

"Year after year, the government claims to have lifted 25 crore people out of poverty, yet paradoxically continues to distribute food grains to nearly 80 crore people under the Public Distribution System... If poverty has truly declined on such a massive scale, why are crores of families still dependent on free rations to survive?" he said.

Kumar also questioned the government's alleged silence on the situation in Manipur, continuous devaluation of the Indian Rupee, unemployment, stagnant wages, and "growing" inequality. PTI AO KVK KVK