Staff Reporter / New Delhi
Leaders from Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance INDIA bloc on Friday staged protest at Jantar Mantar over the suspension of 146 MPs during the Winter Session of Parliament. They accusing the BJP-led government of “dictatorship”.
The ‘Save Democracy’ campaign was organised at Jantar Mantar as part of the nationwide protest called by the INDIA over the suspension of parliamentarians.
Speaking at the protest Rahul Gandhi stated that a few youngsters had entered Parliament and released smoke, prompting the reported retreat of BJP MPs. “All the BJP MPs ran away. Unki hawaa nikal gayi (They were scared stiff),” he quipped.
The Gandhi scion also stated that the Parliament security breach on December 13 also raised questions about what prompted the intruders to take such a step. He explained, “In this incident, there is the question of security breach, but there is another question of why they protested this way. The answer is unemployment in the country.”
He went on to talk about the upheaval in Parliament in the wake of the security breach: the protests and disruption by Opposition lawmakers, the mass suspensions, and the blazing row over Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee’s mimicry of Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Gandhi’s filming of it.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Rahul Gandhi and party’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury; Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Kumar Jha, among others participated in the protest.
Addressing the gathering, the Congress chief said, “(Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah have taken the initiative to end the democracy and Constitution of the country. So, we have formed the INDIA alliance.”
Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said “Under our Constitution, everyone has the right to speak. When we give notice (in Parliament), we are not even allowed to read the notice. You can’t take away our right to speak. This freedom was given to us by Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.”
Attacking the government, he said, “You suspend Opposition MPs and pass the laws (Bills) unopposed. This is not good for democracy. But, we are not afraid of the Modi government. We will fight together.”
NCP chief said, “We are ready to pay whatever price … to save the democracy of the country. We will work hard to remove the forces attacking the democracy.’’
RJD leader Jha said, “This fight is not just of the suspended MPs but of the entire country.”
The CPI leader said, “The prime architect of our Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar made it clear that Parliament is supreme as it represents the sovereign will of the people. If Parliament becomes redundant, democracy will be killed.”
He further said, “Can we allow such a fascist dictatorship to take over the country? The INDIA alliance must put up a collective fight against the BJP-RSS. The Constitution must be saved. India’s democracy must be saved.”