Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday said the government cannot silence people’s voice (boli) with bullet (goli) as members of the Congress and the DMK targeted Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur, in the House.
Members of the Congress and the DMK, who were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), resorted to sloganeering every time Mr. Thakur answered a question during the Zero Hour for his controversial speech at an election rally earlier.
Speaker Om Birla and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi asked the members, who had come into the well of the Lok Sabha as soon as the Question Hour started at 11 am, to raise their concerns during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address.
As the Oppositions members didn’t relent, Mr. Birla announced an early lunch break soon after the Zero Hour had started.
As soon as Monday’s proceedings started, Opposition MPs, mainly from the Congress, started raising slogans against the CAA-NRC-NPR, prompting the Speaker to say the citizenship law had been discussed in detail.
“You can raise and discuss all issues that you want during the debate on the President’s address. You will get enough opportunity. You were elected by people through democratic process and it is my responsibility to give you opportunities to raise issues concerning people,” Mr. Birla said.
But the moment the Question Hour got under way and Mr. Thakur started answering questions relating to the Finance Ministry, the Opposition members were heard shouting Goli Maarna Band Karo (Stop shooting) in an obvious reference to the Minister’s objectionable comments for which the Election Commission had banned him and Parvesh Verma (also BJP) from campaigning in Delhi.
Amidst slogans of “Go Back” and “Shame Shame,” the MPs also displayed placards saying “Save India”, “Save Democracy” and “Save Constitution”.
“After the citizenship law was passed, common people are protesting against this. It is not something that is unjust. They are protesting with the Constitution in the hand, holding the national flag and singing the national anthem. But they are being fired upon and beaten mercilessly. The government cannot silence people’s voice with bullets,” Mr. Chowdhury said.
During the Question Hour, AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi too raised the issue of firing on Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) students and expressed solidarity with them.
