BJP KICKS OFF YATRA WITH NEW MINISTERS
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday launched Jan Ashirwad Yatras from different parts of the country, accusing the opposition of jeopardising democracy by stalling the recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament. Thirty-nine ministers, who were inducted into the Union council of ministers on July 7, will be part of these yatras across 22 states.
On Monday, close to a dozen central ministers participated in the yatras organised to introduce the newly inducted ministers to the people and tell them the party’s version of the washout of the monsoon session of Parliament. This was decided after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not able to introduce his council of ministers in both houses of Parliament on account of the opposition’s protest, seeking a discussion on the Pegasus snooping controversy, the farmers’ agitation and price rise.
At one such yatra undertaken by Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav, the mainstay of his speech was the opposition’s alleged efforts to derail the session. “The Parliament is for discussion not dancing on the tables. The books kept there are for reading, not ripping apart…” he said at a public meeting organised in Alwar, Rajasthan.
The government had earlier alleged that the opposition, by not deferring to the tradition of introducing ministers in Parliament, showed disregard towards the representatives from the socially and educationally backward classes, women and other marginalised sections, who have been given a place at the high table. This was reinforced in Coimbatore on Monday by L Murugan, minister of state for information and broadcasting, when he accused the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress of not allowing him to be introduced in Parliament as he was a Dalit. “DMK has been in power for 20 years but did they make anyone from a poor and ordinary family a Union minister? No,” said Murugan, who was the former Tamil Nadu BJP president. Union minister of state for education, Annapurna Devi called the Narendra Modi goverment an inclusive government.