New Delhi, Feb 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that his government has consistently strived to uplift the living standards of people as well as enhance their financial power, unlike the previous governments which focused on filling their own coffers and letting corruption thrive under their watch.

Replying to the Motion of Thanks on President’s address, PM Modi cited many public-driven projects and schemes to harness the country’s resources and said that his government used the money to build the nation, and not ‘Sheeshmahal’, a luxurious palace for former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal allegedly built on the taxpayers’ money.

“Earlier, the newspapers were filled with news of scams and corruption. In the past 10 years, we have saved crores of rupees which have been used for the public. We have not used that money to build a ‘Sheeshmahal’, instead we used that to build the nation,” said the Prime Minister, amid vigorous desk thumping by the treasury bench members.

The Prime Minister also took a swipe at a former Congress PM and mocked his obsession for becoming ‘Mr Clean’.

“A former PM used to say that when Rs 1 was sent from Delhi, only 15 paise reached the bottom. Everyone can understand who was getting the 15 paise,” he said while stating that it happened at a time when there was only one party from the panchayat level to the central level. The PM was referring to ex-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

PM Modi asserted that his government tried to find a solution and not merely keep the situation lingering for decades.

“Our model is ‘Bhachat bhi Vikas bhi’, ‘Janata ka paisa janata ke liye,” he asserted.

PM Modi listed several schemes like JAM Trinity while talking about ethanol as an alternative to fuel and explained they have proven to be big money-minting projects.

“Under the Jan Aushadi Kendra, 80 per cent discount is available on medicines. Beneficiaries are saving about Rs 30,000 crore in medicines,” PM Modi pointed out.

“Because of our intensified focus on LED bulbs and energy saving, the prices of LED bulbs have come down from Rs 400 to Rs 40. Countrymen have saved a whopping Rs 20,000 from this,” the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi also quoted a UNICEF survey and said that the world body found that those families being part of the sanitation drive have saved Rs 70,000 per family in a year.

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Hema Malini on Tuesday made an insensitive remark on the stampede during the Maha Kumbh 2025 in which 30 people were lost their lives while 60 others were injured. The actor-turned-politician said that the stampede that took place on January 29 during the Maha Kumbh was not a “big” incident.

Malini said that the Opposition exaggerated the incident. She also lauded the Uttar Pradesh government for arrangements at the Maha Kumbh. While replying to a question on Akhilesh Yadav targeting the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh over the stampede, the Lok Sabha MP said, “His job is to speak wrongly. We went to Kumbh, we had a very nice bath. It is right that an incident took place, but it was not a very big incident. “

“It is being exaggerated…It was very well-managed, and everything was done very well…So many people are coming, it is very difficult to manage but we are doing our best,” she added.

Congress’s Reaction:

Malini’s statement stirred a political controversy. The Congress hit back at the BJP over its MP’s statement. The grand old party called the remark “shameful”. “Due to the incompetence of the BJP government, a large number of people lost their lives in Kumbh.On this extremely sad incident, BJP MP Hema Malini said- ‘This was not such a big incident, it is being blown out of proportion’ This statement is shameful; it is the height of insensitivity,” the Congress said in its X post.

“From the very first day, the BJP government and the entire government machinery have been trying to cover up this incident. Till now it has not been revealed how many people have lost their lives. The victims’ families have been left to fend for themselves and all efforts are being made to suppress the incident,” it added.

What Opposition Said On Maha Kumbh Stampede:

Several opposition leaders raised concerns over the government’s handling of the stampede during the Mauni Amavasya bathing ritual.

Earlier today, Yadav demanded transparency regarding the fatalities at the Maha Kumbh stampede, urging the government to present accurate figures on the deaths, treatment of the injured, and arrangements made for the event.

Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address, Akhilesh called for an all-party meeting to clarify the situation and recommended that disaster management and the lost and found centre be handed over to the Army.

The SP chief also pressed for strict punitive action against those responsible for the tragedy and those who concealed the facts, questioning the government’s decision to suppress the numbers.

“For the Maha Kumbh tragedy, there should be strict punitive action against those responsible and those who have hidden the truth should be punished. We ask the double-engine government, if there was no guilt, then why were the figures suppressed, hidden and erased?” he added.

“Log punye kamane aaye the aur apno ke shav lekar gaye hai (People came to earn merit, but they left with the bodies of their loved ones)” the SP Chief said.

Kolkata, Feb 4: The five accused in the multi-crore financial irregularities case at state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, including the former and controversial principal of the institute Sandip Ghosh, on Tuesday, sought exemption from the case.

Besides Ghosh, four others who have sought similar exemption from the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), are his assistant-cum- bodyguard Afsar Ali, private contractors Biplab Sinha and Suman Hazra and a junior doctor Ashish Pandey. All of them are in judicial custody now.

The hearing for framing of charge in the case is likely on Wednesday at a special court in Kolkata. It is learnt that the hearing on exemption petitions by the five accused will be conducted simultaneously with the hearing on charge-framing.

On January 28, the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh directed the CBI, which is investigating the case, to complete the process of framing charges against the five accused individuals by February 6.

Recently, Ghosh also approached the bench of Justice Ghosh with a plea seeking more time before the framing of the charges could begin. However, Justice Ghosh summarily rejected the petition.

As per the chargesheet filed by CBI in the financial irregularities case, the main charges are manipulations in the tendering process, getting infrastructure-related work at R.G. Kar done by private outsourced agencies bypassing the state Public Works Department, “smuggling” bio-medical wastes from the hospital and selling the organs of the unidentified bodies coming to the hospital morgue for autopsy.

In the charge sheet, the investigating officials also gave details on the skyrocketing increase in the quantum of assets and properties of the accused persons, especially Ghosh, during his tenure as the R.G. Kar principal.

In the chargesheet, Ghosh has been identified as the mastermind of the financial irregularities in the case.