At BJP meet, PM Modi slams ‘rattled’ Opposition over Parliament ruckus, predicts more debacle
Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Opposition is rattled by assembly election losses and is disrupting Parliament in frustration.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Opposition parties over their protests in Parliament and alleged that they are rattled by the recent assembly election losses and are disrupting Parliament in frustration.
Addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, Modi also said the Opposition's conduct in Parliament will ensure its numbers will go down in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and added that the BJP will gain in numbers.
Modi also expressed concern at “attempts” to justify the Parliament security breach, saying it is as worrisome as the incident itself, Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had recently blamed unemployment and price rise for the Parliament breach on December 13, when two protesters jumped into the lower house chamber and opened smoke cans.
Modi said everyone believing in democracy and democratic values should have collectively condemned what had happened. "How can a party believing in democratic values overtly or covertly justify it," he said, according to BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Modi's statement comes as INDIA bloc parties are preparing for their fourth meeting on Tuesday to formulate their strategy against the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Modi said their goal is to throw out his government but his government's goal is to ensure a bright future for the country.
In Parliament, barely minutes into the resumption of proceedings on Tuesday, both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till noon following a ruckus by Opposition MPs over the Parliament security breach incident and the bulk suspensions of fellow members.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla yet agaoin urged members to take their seats and let the Question Hour run smoothly.
The Speaker said placards inside the House are not allowed even as the Opposition members continued chanting, seemingly ignoring him.
Speaking with reporters Pralhad Joshi claimed that the Opposition members brought morphed photos of Modi inside the House.
The suspended MPs of the INDIA bloc parties staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue on Parliament premises this morning.
The suspended lawmakers were joined by the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Sonia Gandhi, as they raised slogans against the Centre. The suspended members also protested against the government at Parliament's Makar Dwar.
The protests came a day after 78 opposition MPs, on Monday, were suspended for the remainder of the ongoing 'Winter Session', for raising a ruckus and disrupting proceedings in both Houses to push for their demand for a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah over the Parliament security breach incident, taking the total number of lawmakers suspended for the remainder of the session to 92.
The suspensions, combined with the 13 members removed earlier, were the largest in the history of Indian Parliament.
(With inputs from agencies)
