The parliament session was expected to be stormy when the second half the Budget session resumed on March 13. And true to its words it stayed that way for five days now.
Both the houses i.e Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till March 20 . The ruling BJP insisting that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi apologise for his democracy and seeking foreign intervention remark during his recent visit to London . The Congress on the other hand is firm and rallied behind the Gandhi scion .
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, hit back at Nadda for his comments on Rahul Gandhi as he told ANI, They (BJP) themselves are anti-national. They never took part in India’s freedom movement. And they’re calling others anti-national. They are doing this to deviate from issues of unemployment & inflation. Can Rahul Gandhi ever be anti-national? Are people who debate about democracy anti-national? I condemn JP Nadda’s statement. Why are they not giving Rahul Gandhi a chance to speak in Parliament.
Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor told ANI, Rahul Gandhi hasn’t said anything he should apologise for. He never demanded foreign forces come to our country to save our democracy. It’s nonsense. He said that democracy, in our country, is in danger and everyone should know about it. I didn’t hear anything wrong in it.
The Congress too has while defending Rahul had cited that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too during his sojourns abroad had repeatedly slammed the previous government’s in his addresses.
BJP has been seeking apology from Rahul Gandhi , party president J P Nadda charging him with becoming a “permanent part of the toolkit” working against India that seeks a weak government here so as to exploit it for its benefits.
Tharoor took a jibe at the BJP for not allowing parliament function as he was quoted by ANI as saying , I don’t think there is a need to apologise for this. But, it is Govt’s responsibility to run the Parliament. Budget session is ongoing, there’s a need to pass Finance Bill. When there are such important matters, you are not allowing Parliament to function over a non-issue.
With the government sticking to not bow down to the opposition demand on JPC on the Adani issue and Congress defiant that Rahul Gandhi has said no wrong , Parliament is clearly heading for another washout.
Keen to take on the Congress, BJP is even seeking to suspend Rahul Gandhi’s membership from Lok Sabha. If taken the war between the Congress and the BJP will only intensify. And business in house then looks highly unlikely given the stature the Gandhi’s have in the Grand Old party.
Ironically , in few months time as part of the government’s ambitious central vista project the country would soon get to see a new parliament building . So the big question is will there be sanity among the political parties and ensure business take place ? or will the old habits refuse to change – even a new building t?
This scenario will be watched with keener interest. If Parliament in a democracy in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own words ‘Temple’ does not function and there is no- trust deficit between government and opposition then democracy is surely on the edge and state worrisome . Hope better sense prevails soon. For the country hosting G20 later this year this ruckus in parliament is not at all a pleasant sight .
