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As the acrimonious Budget session of Parliament drew to a close Thursday, the Opposition criticised the government, accusing it of “deliberately” disrupting proceedings of the two Houses to avoid questions on the Adani Group affair.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said if this attitude of the government continues, democracy will be finished in the country. He said efforts to bring the Opposition parties together are underway and their unity will continue in the elections as well.
The Congress and some other Opposition parties skipped the Speaker’s customary tea gathering at the end of the Parliament session.
Addressing a joint press conference with Parliamentary leaders of 19 parties after MPs of 20 Opposition parties took out a ‘Tiranga March’ from Parliament, Kharge said the Modi government talks a lot about democracy but does not walk the talk.
Asked about the Prime Minister’s remark that the BJP cannot be defeated in 2024 and how the Opposition plans to demonstrate its unity on the ground, Kharge said, “We will bring unity… Efforts have been made to forge unity… Our issues are to save the country, keep it united… We are committed to democracy and the Constitution… Modi Saheb keeps talking but perhaps is not aware of the ground level… People are distressed over inflation, unemployment and changes in the democratic system… So he will keep saying, but we will continue doing our job unitedly. Hum ek jut hokar aage ke chunav mein ladte rahenge (We will fight the elections unitedly),” he said.
At least two Opposition leaders who spoke after Kharge echoed his views.
BRS leader K Keshava Rao said the parties on the podium had “distance and differences” between them but were now coming together.
“You have before you all the Opposition parties who were distanced… maintain some distance and differences. But today, you are seeing how it is getting evolved. We are becoming so strong, so concretely strong that all the efforts to divide us have failed. We are united today, standing right before you. What happens tomorrow… we are working out to see how we come together,” he said.
On the leadership issue, he said, “I don’t know why you are always obsessed with the leadership issue… A nation will certainly be led by a person, led by a combination of ideologies and programmes. That we are trying to do. Whatever we are trying to do is to see that kind of a programme is on board and we are all on the same page,” he said.
DMK’s T Baalu said the BJP was in a “state of jittery” which was “why they wanted to have the head of Rahul Gandhi”.
“After the Bharat Jodo (Yatra), the BJP and ruling party people are very afraid of Rahul Gandhi. That is the main thing for all the happenings in Parliament in the past 15 days. Because of their hegemonic attitude, they have disturbed the House… All the political party leaders… Congress is going to have a united front to collect all the party leaders together… not Parliamentary party leaders, real leaders… They will unitedly decide the things we want to have.”
Kharge said the Modi government does not practise what it preaches about democracy. “I want to give only one example. The Budget of Rs 50 lakh crore was passed in just 12 minutes. And they kept saying that the Opposition parties have no interest and are disturbing the House. But disturbance was created by the ruling party. Whenever we stood up to speak or gave notice and demanded a discussion… We were not allowed to speak. I have not seen such a situation in my 52 years of public life,” he said.
The government, Kharge said, did not agree to set up a JPC to probe allegations against the Adani Group because “daal mein kuch kaala hai” (something is fishy).
AAP’s Sanjay Singh said it was the BJP which did not allow Parliament to function. He said the message behind Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification was clear that one can attack the government but not Adani.
Asked whether the Adani issue and caste census would be key issues for the Opposition going forward, Kharge said all issues will be discussed by presidents of the parties later. “Caste census is one of our foremost agenda,” he said.
The Congress is planning to call a meeting of chiefs of all Opposition parties soon. A senior leader said, “We will have to see the availability of all the leaders. There will have to be adequate groundwork. We will have to ensure that the leaders of all the 19-20 parties are present. Even if one or two of the big leaders are not present… then that will become the story. Moreover, campaigning for the Karnataka elections will also begin now… So we are thinking whether to convene the meeting before or after the (Karnataka) elections.”
