Journalism of Courage
Parliament was roiled on Monday by protests over Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP, with both Houses remaining disrupted throughout the day as for once the issue united the Opposition. The Trinamool Congress, which has not been attending meetings convened by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge, too, joined the Opposition huddle and participated in a march taken out by Opposition MPs.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), however, did not attend the joint Opposition protest at the Gandhi statue and the march to Parliament. Sources said it also won’t attend a dinner to be hosted by Kharge tonight. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is upset over Rahul’s remarks on V D Savarkar. On Sunday, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray told the Congress he and his party won’t tolerate insults of Savarkar.
As decided, Congress MPs including Sonia Gandhi came to Parliament wearing black attire. The Congress had also urged Opposition parties to join their black attire protest, and some of them came wearing black clothes. “We’re wearing black to show how Modiji is trampling upon democracy in this country,” Kharge told reporters at a joint press conference, adding that the BJP had been destroying autonomous bodies, toppling elected governments, besides threatening and intimidating elected MLAs.
“They use the ED and CBI against those who don’t bow before them… In the Rajya Sabha, we are asked to authenticate whatever we say… We followed all procedures to ask for a JPC to be set up to probe the meteoric rise in Adani’s wealth…” he said. Kharge added that Rahul was disqualified because he asked tough questions to the Prime Minister on his “relationship” with Adani.
“The government has not been able to answer the questions we raised,” he said and asked why the Government is scared of constituting a JPC, when it has a majority in Parliament. He said it was a black day for democracy. “Such things never happened earlier… for small things… The government disqualified Rahul Gandhi in minutes… with lighting speed… because it does not want him to speak in Parliament… the government wants to gag him… and not let him speak about Adani,” he said.
Leaders of as many as 17 parties attended the meeting convened by Kharge. Although the Shiv Sena attended the meeting, it did not join the protest. Among parties that attended were Trinamool Congress, DMK, AAP, SP, JD(U), BRS, CPI(M), RJD, NCP, CPI, IUML, MDMK, Kerala Congress, RSP and the National Conference.
Once the Houses were adjourned, the MPs, including Sonia and Kharge, gathered near the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex and raised slogans against the government. Holding a huge banner with “Satyamev Jayate” written on it and waving placards with “save democracy” written on them, the MPs then proceeded towards Vijay Chowk where they staged a sit-in.
