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Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said the Chair in both Houses was “not as neutral as it should be” and asserted that the last-day pandemonium in Rajya Sabha started because the government tried to pass a legislation by “stealth” by going back on its words.
Chidambaram also questioned the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah from debates during the session and alleged that the “two-man army” BJP government has “scant respect” for Parliament and if the “two gentlemen have their way, they will lock down Parliament”.
In an interview with PTI, the former Union minister also asserted that with patience, further conversations and meetings, he is absolutely certain the difficulties in forging Opposition unity to take on the BJP in 2024 general elections shall be overcome and it will be a reality well before the polls.
In the UPA era, the prime minister and the home minister attended both Houses, they answered questions in Parliament, they took part in debates and offered clarifications on statements, he said.
Chidambaram said that in this whole session, the prime minister and the home minister were “absent”, did not answer a single question and did not participate in any debate.
“This shows that the two-man army, which is the BJP government, has scant respect for Parliament. If these two gentlemen have their way, they will lock down Parliament,” he alleged.
Asked about Parliament not discussing the Pegasus snooping row and the parliamentary panel on information technology not being able to take up the issue with BJP members denying the panel a quorum in its last meeting, Chidambaram said the Supreme Court is the only hope.
“The government has a huge guilty conscience which is why the moment the word Pegasus is uttered, the government runs for cover and the government resorts to all kinds of strategies to shut out a debate on Pegasus, but Pegasus cannot be suppressed forever,” he said.
One by one skeleton will tumble out of the cupboard, as they are, in France, Israel, Germany and other countries. Newspapers around the world will report on the new revelations, the senior Congress leader said.
“I hope the Supreme Court will take up the issue of Pegasus and order an inquiry,” he added.
