New Delhi: The logjam in parliament extended to the sixth successive day on Monday with the treasury benches and the government sticking to their stands.
The parliament has not been able to conduct any substantial business since the start of second part of the budget session on March 13 with the BJP seeking apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks in the United Kingdom and several opposition parties seeking Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Hindenburg-Adani row.
Members from the treasury benches and opposition resorted to slogneering over their demands with both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeing similar scenes.
The two Houses were first adjourned till 2 pm and then for the day.
When the Lok Sabha met on the sixth day of the second leg of the budget session, opposition members came near the Speaker’s podium over their demand on Adani issue.
Speaker Om Birla said he will allow members to speak within rules after the question hour.
He said the members from the opposition and treasury benches can come to his chamber to find a solution to the impasse.
Birla said that people want the Parliament to function. As the din continued, he adjourned the House till 2 pm.
The BJP and Congress leaders continued their barbs at each other outside the parliament.
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri attacked Rahul Gandhi over his remarks in UK, the Congress leader said that criticism of the Prime Minister or his government is in no way an “attack on India”.
Puri, who held a press conference, said if any individual goes outside the country he has the freedom to speak but along with that freedom comes a sense of responsibility.
“We are the world’s oldest democracy but Mr Gandhi goes to UK and says Indian democracy is facing an attack on the basic structure.”
The Union minister said Rahul Gandhi should apologise for his remarks.
He also hit back at the Congress, saying that it was under the Indira Gandhi regime that civil liberties were curbed.
“His (Rahul Gandh’s) grandmother invoked Article 356, 150 times to suspend and dismiss legitimately elected state governments,” Puri said.
In his remarks at Cambridge University in the UK, Gandhi had said that everybody knows and it’s been in the news a lot that Indian democracy “is under pressure and under attack”.
“I am an Opposition leader in India, we are navigating that (Opposition) space. The institutional framework which is required for a democratic Parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, moving around all are getting constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy,” he had said.
Rahul Gandhi, who was in his constituency Wayanad on Monday, hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party over its persistent attack for remarks in the UK,
“Now, there is confusion in the minds of the PM, BJP and RSS. They are under the impression that they are India. The PM is an Indian and not India. No way an attack on the PM, BJP or RSS is an attack on India. But by attacking independent institutions of India, they’re attacking India. And I won’t stop saying this,” Gandhi said at a public meeting.
He lashed out at the Centre over the Delhi Police notice to him in regard to his speech in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, and said that he will “fight for the truth”.
“I am not scared of BJP, RSS or Police. No matter how many cases are filed against me or how many times you send the police to my home and insult me, I will still fight for the truth. Those who always lie won’t be able to understand honest people,” he said.
“I understand that farmers are facing huge difficulties not just in Wayanad but in the whole country. The central and state governments are also trying to displace farmers in the name of environmental protection. I am always ready to help the farmers,” Gandhi added.
The budget session will conclude on April 6.
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