Budget Session begins: House to debate campus unrest today

The Congress has decided to field Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad to take on the government in the Rajya Sabha. From the BJP side, Bhupender Yadav is likely to speak first.

Watch Video: What Transpired In Delhi HC Before JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya Surrendered

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended back-to-back meetings with NDA leaders and its Parliamentary Party Executive, at which BJP chief Amit Shah was also present. Sources said the BJP leadership informed allies and party leaders that it plans to go all out against the Congress and the Left which, according to the BJP, have supported anti-national forces.

According to sources, the PM asked the party to “put forward its view effectively and forcefully” during the debate, while Shah directed them to be aggressive against the opposition. The leadership was of the view that the BJP and the government should not fall into the “trap” laid by the Communists who wanted to keep these issues burning to divert attention from the “government’s good works”. Modi explained the efforts of the government to reach out to the Opposition for smooth functioning of Parliament. The PMO also made a presentation of the initiatives of the government over the last two years.

Both Modi and Shah wanted the NDA allies to back the government on the JNU row and Rohith Vemula issue, sources said, adding that the allies agreed to support the government.

Watch Video: Visuals Of Rohith Vemula Protest Rally

At the NDA meeting, Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made presentations on both the issues. Shah mentioned an incident in which Army officers were allegedly beaten up by students in JNU and how the issue was taken up by BJP MP B C Khanduri in Parliament. Jaitley, sources said, explained clauses of the sedition law. The BJP leaders said the issue “had nothing to do with free speech but just support to extremists and Maoists.” According to BJP top leadership, Congress has “fallen into the Communists’ trap” and it wanted the BJP to follow.

Several opposition members had given notices seeking a discussion on the developments in universities. The discussion would be “on the situation arising in central Institutions of higher education with specific reference to Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Hyderabad”.

That the opposition will be aggressive is a foregone conclusion. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was at Jantar Mantar to take part in a protest by students seeking justice for Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula and JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar. The Congress, Left and many other opposition parties have accused the BJP and RSS of engineering the developments.

Watch Video | Rohith Vemula Protest Rally: What Rahul Gandhi Said

“If you go back in your memory and see the last three sessions, before the session begins… in that one week… some turmoil is created in the country by the Hindutva forces which takes up attention of the Parliament, naturally. And because it takes up the attention of Parliament, we demand a discussion and the government does not agree and Parliament is disrupted. They create the grounds for disruption,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.