Heated debates ensued in both the houses of the parliament on Tuesday. While the newly appointed Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi led the charge in the Lok Sabha, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge led the charge in the Upper House. Mr Gandhi sparked protests when he accused the ruling BJP of not being Hindus for their alleged adherence to violence and conduct. In the house of elders, Mr Kharge touched upon several issues including the situation in strife torn Manipur and the recent NEET controversy.
Lok Sabha
In a rather feisty address on Monday, the newly appointed Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, accusing the Narendra Modi-led government of promoting hatred and violence, said they were not Hindus at all. Mr Gandhi holding posters of Lord Shiva, Baba Guru Nanak and enumerating teachings of Islam held these forces which helped shape the country espoused non-violence and not falling to fear. Thus, accusing the treasury, he held they were not Hindus at all. This led to an elongated chaos in the lower house. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also present in the house, held the remarks were a cause of serious concern for it labelled the entire Hindu community as “violent”. To this, Mr Gandhi protested that the remarks were made against Mr Modi, BJP and the RSS and not the entire Hindu community. Furthermore, the leader of the opposition held the BJP’s loss in the Faisabad constituency (bearing Ayodhya), sent across an important message. He enumerated that the residents of Ayodhya who were rendered homeless and had their lands snatched to build surrounding infrastructure were unhappy with the treatment.
Mr Gandhi also raised concerns about the plight of NEET students. He alleged that exam favoured rich students and not meritorious students. Mr Gandhi argued the exam was “not to help the poor students”. The leader of opposition accused the government of turning a professional exam into a commercial exam. Mr Gandhi alleged the government did not support the Opposition’s plea to find an amicable solution on the “institutional failure”.
Other than these, Mr Gandhi also touched upon the situation in Manipur and the controversy surrounding Agniveer. The Rae Bareli MP accused the Prime Minister of being indifferent to the plight of people in Manipur as if it “it was not a part of India”. About the latter, he held the Agniveer scheme to be discriminatory. To Mr Gandhi’s charge, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held they were “factually incorrect”. Mr Singh informed that agniveers losing their lives in a war were given a compensation of Rs 1 crore and the scheme was already engaged with over 158 companies for opportunities.
Mr Gandhi’s spoke amidst the Union cabinet taking exception on the contents of the speech multiple times. Additionally, the LoP himself on multiple counts raised objections for allegedly muting his mic.
Separately, during the day, several members, including Congress leader Manish Tewari and Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, also objected to the contents of the President’s address. Both the mentioned members had also raised concerns about election commission’s conduct in light of the rhetoric used during the campaigning alongside the use of investigative agencies.
The day had commenced in the lower house with BJP MP Anurag Thakur initiating the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address. He highlighted the achievements of the NDA government over the past decade and hitting out at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his attendance in the House. He had earlier criticised the INDIA bloc, pointing out that the parties which had protested against the Emergency and whose State governments were toppled by previous Congress governments at the Centre have now joined the alliance.
Proceedings in the people’s house ran late into midnight on Monday to make room for all members to place their arguements. Among the more important issues raised entail concerns about ration shops for supplies and demands for caste census.
The over 16-hour debate at present is likely to conclude Tuesday evening. News agency PTI learnt from sources that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to respond to the motion on Tuesday.
Rajya Sabha
Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday targeted the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi for examination paper leaks and the continuing ethnic strife in Manipur, among other things. Participating in the discussion on Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Mr. Kharge said the future of 30 lakh students has been affected due to recent paper leaks. “If this keeps happening, students will stop their study,” he said. In the last seven years, there have been paper leaks 70 times, the LoP added.
He also accused the Prime Minister of not visiting the troubled state of Manipur, even though he had the time to make international trips and hold rallies across the country during election campaigning.
After the lunch hours, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar highlighted that a section of Mr Kharge’s speech that he had directed to be expunged was tweeted by his party’s official handle. He said this would amount to contempt.
During the discussion on the President’s address, Opposition raised several concerns about the government’s varied policies. These ranged from per capita income, the newly implemented Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks during the general elections’ campaign trail.
However, the more important among the developments was AAP MP Sanjay Singh speaking in the house after 11 months. He mentioned about the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before the elections, and the alleged use of central agencies such as ED and CBI to target the Opposition. He also claimed that the liquor excise policy scam was done by the BJP taking a bribe of Rs. 7 crores from Sharath Reddy, causing protests from members. Separately, he cautioned that a party in charge should not put Opposition members in jail, arguing that this would destroy the party.
On Monday, several MPs, including YSRCP MP Meda Ragunandha Reddy made their maiden speech in Rajya Sabha. Mr. Reddy raised the issue of Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh, seeking his part continue to raise this demand.
(Compiled by Priyali Prakash, Sruthi Darbhamulla, Sumeda, Shalu Chourasia, Srivatsan K C)
