Oppn leaders won't bow down: All-party meet convened by government fails to end Parliament logjam

New Delhi: An all-party meeting convened by the Lok Sabha Speaker on Thursday failed to break the Parliamentary deadlock but government indicated it was ready convene an all-party meeting in a bid to end the logjam.

The indication came after the Opposition threw the ball in the government’s court saying it was for it to take initiative and the logjam would continue till then.

Under Opposition attack, Home Minister Rajnath Singh indicated that the government was open to calling an all-party meet to break the impasse.

Leader of the Congress Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of not reaching out to the Opposition and TMC leader Sudip Bandhyopadhyay charged it with harbouring a “very undemocratic” attitude.

“The role and performance of the government is very democratic in nature. Why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not opened his mouth,” Bandhyopadhyay said initiating the opposition attack.

He also made it clear that it was unrealistic to expect that no one will go to the Well of the House. “It cannot happen, it will never happen.”

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan told reporters after the meeting that she wanted a consensus against “undignified” modes of protests like members raising placards in the House or rushing into the Well and claimed that most parties agreed with her views.

“I am always optimistic. It is a positive beginning,” she said when asked if such protests would stop now.

Making it clear that there would be no let-up in the Opposition protests, Kharge said it was the government’s responsibility to run the House and assailed the treasury benches for the not reaching out to them even once since the monsoon session began on 21 July.

Taking a swipe at the ruling BJP leaders, he said the Opposition was “following the traditions” set up by the likes of LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley who had termed disruptions of Parliament “a legitimate tactic” to pressure the government when the saffron party was in the opposition.

Rajnath Singh’s remarks that BJP members had not used placards when it was in opposition was strongly contested by the opposition members.

Opposition sources said Singh “welcomed” their suggestion for an all-party meeting.

The Opposition has been seeking resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje which has paralysed Parliament for two weeks with the government rejecting their demand.

Expressing concern over the undignified protests, Mahajan rejected the Opposition contention that raising of placards by members and going into the Well have been happening for long. “A good tradition must start and bad tradition stop,” she told them.

“If somebody has killed a cow, it does not mean that others should kill the calf,” she said quoting a Marathi proverb to make her point that in a democracy protest is needed but it should be as per the rules and procedure.

Citing the incident in which she had pulled up Chowdhury after he banged his placard on her table, she said she saw several young people in the visitor’s gallery and felt bad about the impression of Parliament they would carry in their mind.

She also rejected the charge that Lok Sabha TV was blacking out Opposition protests and said guidelines to this effect were formulated by the then Speaker in 2010 and she had not given any such instructions.

Kharge, however, insisted that the onus was on the government to ensure normal functioning of Parliament by addressing the issues raised by them and was supported by JP Yadav of RJD, Kaushalendra Kumar (JD-U) and Karunakaran of the CPI-M.

BJD’s Tathagata Satpathy accused the government of abdicating its responsibility while he appreciated the “perseverance” of the Speaker to run the House smoothly.

NCP’s Tariq Anwar was also critical of the government for not initiating any dialogue with the opposition to address the issues raised by it.

P Karunakaran of the CPI-M said the government should address the issues raised by them.

The constituents of the ruling NDA rallied round the government by supporting its call for Parliament to function. “Parliament must work,” Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal said.

PTI