Opposition leaders from 15 parties will protest against the curtailment of the monsoon session of Parliament on Thursday by marching from Parliament to Vijay Chowk at Rajpath to “inform” the people that the Narendra Modi government did not want to discuss important issues affecting them.
Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha, K. Suresh, said former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be a part of the protests.
Opposition MPs will first assemble in the Parliament complex and then protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue before marching to Vijay Chowk to address a joint press conference.
Earlier in the day, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, criticised the government for curtailing the monsoon session and alleged that Opposition members were not allowed to speak on issues like price rise, rising fuel prices, farmers agitation and the repeal of farm laws.
Sudden adjournment
Mr. Chowdhury said, “It’s not the task of the government to say who is right or wrong... or what demands are right or wrong. Such a government that focuses on its whims and fancies is not good for the country and is dangerous for democracy. First, we were told the House will run till August 13, but the government today suddenly decided ‘no need to run the house further’ and the House was suddenly adjourned”.
The Lok Sabha, which got under way on July 19, was adjourned two days ahead of schedule because of repeated disruptions from the Opposition, mainly over Pegasus snooping controversy and the farm laws.
Mr. Chowdhury claimed that the government and the ruling BJP spared no opportunity to portray the Opposition in a bad light and “deflect the truth”.
“We sought discussions on COVID-19, unbridled price rise, fuel price rise, farmers issues. We wanted a repeal of the farm laws and when the Pegasus issue came up, we repeatedly tried to tell the government the issue is not small. It has put a question mark on national security. The government should discuss the steps taken in respect of snooping allegations. It kept escaping a discussion and till the end did not allow a debate on Pegasus,” he stated.
“If Israel is probing the issue, France is investigating and Hungary and Germany are reacting, why cant India,” he asked.
Passage of Bills
Objecting to the manner in which Bills were being passed, he observed, “We have seen that every Bill is passed within five to seven minutes and the government has created a new record on this front”.
The Opposition’s job, he pointed out, was to highlight people’s concerns and problems of the common man and the government had a responsibility to ensure that their views were aired. He alleged that the Opposition was not shown on the Lok Sabha TV, of which they also were equal stakeholders.
