HashtagPolitics | Parliament impasse continues, Oppn & govt trade barbs online over suspension of MPs

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the MP from Wayanad in Kerala, tweeted, “Why cylinder Rs 1053? Why GST on curd-cereals? Why Mustard Oil Rs 200? The ‘Raja’ arrested 57 MPs and suspended 23 MPs for asking questions on inflation and unemployment. The ‘king’ is afraid of questions in the temple of democracy, but we know how to fight dictators.”

सिलेंडर ₹1053 का क्यों?
दही-अनाज पर GST क्यों?
सरसों का तेल ₹200 क्यों?

महंगाई और बेरोज़गारी पर सवाल पूछने के अपराध में ‘राजा’ ने 57 MPs को गिरफ़्तार और 23 MPs को निलंबित किया।

राजा को लोकतंत्र के मंदिर में सवाल से डर लगता है, पर तानाशाहों से लड़ना हमें बख़ूबी आता है।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 27, 2022

A day earlier, Gandhi tweeted in a similar tone: “The ‘King’ of the country has ordered. Whoever will ask questions on unemployment, inflation, wrong GST, Agneepath — put him in jail. Even though it is a crime to raise the voice of the people in the country now, they will never be able to break our spirits.”

Saying that it was “forbidden to ask questions in the country”, Congress’s national media coordinator Shailendra Choudhary said, “The dictator is afraid of the opposition in a democracy, because the Opposition raises the voice of the people. The watchman is frightened by these ‘questions’.”

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted on Tuesday, “With the suspension of Opposition MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, it is abundantly clear that Modi Sarkar is in no mood to allow the Opposition to raise REAL, URGENT issues being faced by the people of our country in Parliament.”

Claiming that the BJP was “afraid of Parliament”, TMC MP Derek O’Brien on Wednesday shared an excerpt from a press conference where he said that “in six years, the PM had not answered a single question” in the Rajya Sabha.

PM @narendramodi is scared of #Parliament

In over 6 yrs the PM has not answered a single Question on the floor of #RajyaSabha

Maybe if we move a resolution to allow teleprompters inside Parliament he may finally appear

Excerpt from Press Conference I did for @AITCofficial pic.twitter.com/k2EG5epQQh

— Derek O’Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) July 27, 2022

Telangana’s Information Technology minister KT Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, also took to Twitter to ask the government what it was afraid of and why it was “stifling” the Opposition’s voice. Three MPs from his party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), are among those suspended. “Instead of agreeing to a discussion & debate on inflation, price rise & GST hike on essentials, NPA Govt decided to suspend 3 @trspartyonline MPs from Rajya Sabha for 10 days,” KTR said.

Telangana BJP leader Eatala Rajender responded by saying that the TRS had suspended BJP leaders “for the entire (state) Budget session for no reason within two minutes on the inaugural day”. He asked the minister, “Can you morally justify standing for Opposition?”

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi responded to the Opposition’s attacks, saying, “We have been maintaining that the government is ready for discussion on price rise and today Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman resumed her office after recovering from Covid. Their suspension can be revoked by the Chair if they apologise and assure that they will not again bring placards into the House.”

O’Brien hit back by saying that the Opposition was not going to “express regret” and the “government had to express regret for not taking up discussion in Parliament”.