Walkout sets tone for Monsoon Session
With legislative business and contentious issues lined up, Sunday’s protest hinted at an acrimonious Parliament session
In a clear indication that the Monsoon Session beginning Monday is likely to witness fierce attack across the aisle, the all-party meeting convened by the Government on Sunday saw the Opposition parties staging a symbolic walkout protesting the invitation to rebel TMC MPs.
As the meeting started, the Opposition protested against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decisions on the rebel TMC MPs being granted a separate seating arrangements in the Parliament and simultaneously on the issue of merger of rebel Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena MPs with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.
The meeting, chaired by Union Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh, was attended by Health Minister JP Nadda and 58 leaders from 40 political parties.
Though Opposition MPs returned soon to the meeting after protesting over what they termed was the “miscarriage of justice”, the walkout signalled a stormy Monsoon Session ahead. While there was a demand for a discussion on the issues of Ram temple donation theft, NEET paper leak and the issue of blended petrol, the NDA Government on its part said it will listen to the Opposition in exchange for being heard.
“People of the country want the Parliament to function smoothly. We also want this. By protesting, no one is going to benefit politically. That is why I request members of all political parties to take part in the proceedings wholeheartedly,” Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, said. He added in Monsoon Session, several important legislations will come while requesting Opposition participation.
“If they want to oppose, they should oppose through debate, not by creating chaos and protests. We will cooperate and hope they will also cooperate,” he said.
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari told the media that Opposition decided to walk out of all-party meeting to protest the Speaker’s decision on rebel MPs of TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT). While CPM leader John Brittas said the invitation to rebel TMC MPs to the all-party meet was a “miscarriage of justice”, TMC MP Mahua Moitra said the entire Opposition, including the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, DMK, JMM, Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference, Left parties, Shiv Sena (UBT), walked out of the meeting in protest as the “so-called NCPI”, which is an unrecognised party, was invited.
Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena (UBT), whose six MPs joined the Shiv Sena and their merger was approved by the Speaker, said they have protested against the decision and walked out of the meeting symbolically. ND Gupta of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose seven out of the 10 Rajya Sabha MPs joined the BJP, said the seven MPs were “hijacked” and the AAP’s petition to decide whether this is valid or not was still pending.
TMC rebel MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who attended the meeting along with Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, said they were invited and hence came representing the new party with 20 MPs. DMK, which is not part of the Congress-led INDIA bloc, during the all-party meeting urged the Government to come out with a clear formula on the Constitution amendment bill for providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, asserting that the quota should be given on the current strength of the Lower House.
