Headlines
Congress protests, opposition unites against suspension
New Delhi, Aug 4
A combative opposition on
Tuesday protested inside and outside parliament over the suspension of
25 Congress MPs, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi dubbing the Lok
Sabha speaker's decision a "murder" of democracy. The BJP retorted that
there was "no democracy in the Congress DNA".
Congress leaders,
including Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and vice
president Rahul Gandhi, joined a noisy protest at the Mahatma Gandhi
statue in the parliament complex -- all of them sporting a black band on
thier arms.
The MPs shouted slogans like "Down with Narendra
Modi", "We want justice" and "Shame on you dictator". Similar protests
also took place in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and some other states.
The
suspension brought together on Tuesday virtually the entire opposition,
with even parties opposed to the Congress boycotting the Lok Sabha in
protest against Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's Monday decision.
Samajwadi
Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav echoed the opposition sentiment when
he said: "The suspension is not right. It should be taken back. And the
MPs should be called back to attend the house."
Rahul Gandhi made
it clear that the Congress would not relent on its demand for the
resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the chief
ministers of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
"We will not
budge... There will be no let up in our pressure (on the government) as
far as issues of corruption, Sushma Swaraj and Vyapam (scandal) are
concerned," he said.
Sonia Gandhi called the suspension of MPs "anti-democratic".
"It
is the duty of the government to run the house. The way our MPs were
suspended was anti-democratic. Democracy is being murdered," she said.
Rahul
Gandhi added: "Vyapam scam has destroyed the lives of thousands. Sushma
Swaraj has broken laws, and the Rajasthan chief minister is financially
involved with (former IPL chief) Lalit Modi.
"The demand for their resignation is not the demand of the Congress but of the entire country."
He added: "The PM likes to do 'Mann ki baat'. Instead he should listen to 'Hindustan ki Mann ki baat'."
Manmohan Singh said suspending Congress MPs was no way to resolve issues.
Congress
leader Mallikarjun Kharge said parties like the Trinamool Congress, the
Left and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had pledged their support to his
party and vowed to boycott the Lok Sabha.
The Rashtriya Janata
Dal (RJD), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Samajwadi Party
also joined the Congress protest outside parliament.
More parties
boycotted the Lok Sabha proceedings, including the Communist Party of
India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Revolutionary Socialist Party,
NCP, Janata Dal-United, Indian Union Muslim League, AAP, Trinamool
Congress and the Samajwadi Party.
RJD, Samajwadi Party and Left
members were present in the house in the morning but walked out after
the speaker did not allow them to raise the issue of suspending the
Congress MPs.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Congress and other
opposition parties remained boisterous, leading to the washout of
another day's proceedings.
Disregarding the suspension of their
Lok Sabha colleagues, Congress members in the upper house displayed
placards against Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje. Madhusudan Mistry
waved a piece of black cloth.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and
union minister Prakash Javadekar said: "The Congress talking of
democracy is like the devil quoting scriptures. There is no democracy in
their DNA... The mother is the party president and the son the vice
president. Will they teach us democracy?
"Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are responsible for the logjam in parliament."
Earlier,
the BJP parliamentary party, at a meeting also attended by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, blamed the Congress for days of parliament
disruption and accused it of "obstructionism and negativity". The BJP
made it clear that none of its leaders would resign.