Hitting out at the Opposition parties for constantly disrupting Parliament on the demonetisation issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Opposition is running away from debate and not allowing him to speak.
"Parliament is not being allowed to function. They don't allow me to speak in the Lok Sabha. So I am speaking in a Jan Sabha (public rally)," Modi said at a farmers' rally at Deesa in north Gujarat on Saturday. Referring to President Pranab Mukherjee's recent remarks on the constant disruptions and logjam in the house, Modi tried to corner a few political brownie points and said, "Even the President, who has been a veteran politician belonging to a different political ideology, is anguished at what is happening at the Parliament," Modi said.
He, however reiterated that the hardships due to demonetisation would start easing in 50 days. "I have made calculations and I am sure things will start normalising in 50 days," he said.
Modi took the opportunity to make a public appeal to the Opposition, that has been raising issues about the hardships faced by the common people at bank branches on account of the currency crunch. "I make a public appeal here. Like elections, you may criticise my work and my policies. I will be happpy if you rise above party politics and help people collectively to have smooth fuctioning at banks," he said during the inauguration of the cheese plant at Banas Dairy in Deesa.
Modi inaugurated the newly built Amul cheese plant of Banas Dairy here. The cheese plant, set up with an investment of ₹350 crore, has a production capacity of 50 tonnes a day. This will take Amul's total cheese production capacity to 120 tonnes per day. He also launched the 'Amul Deshi A2' cow milk, that will target a niche market of consumers of pure cow milk from indigenous cow breeds. The milk will be initially marketed in Ahmedabad.
He inaugurated a whey powder plant and launched the dairy's new product, Banas Honey. "Banaskantha farmers can take a lead in the 'sweet revolution' by taking up honeybee cultivation and honey production along with animal husbandary," he said.
Modi asked to innovate value-added products from castor and isabgol (psyllium) to make farming more remunerative for local farmers. During the speech he recalled Dr Verghese Kurien, the man behind the milk revolution, and said, "When Kurien was alive, I had suggested that he make use of isabgol. And he made an ice-cream from it and sold it in Anand."