Modi slams Oppn amid its calls for Pegasus debate
NEW DELHI: The Congress and 14 other Opposition parties decided there would be no change in their stand on the Pegasus snooping issue and resolved to continue protesting during the remaining Monsoon Session of Parliament, two leaders said — a rare sign of unity in the country’s usually fractured Opposition, but also one that doesn’t bode well for the productivity of the House.
Later in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Opposition for insulting “democracy, constitution, Parliament and the people”, with its disruption of the House and asked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers to display restraint so that the dignity of Parliament is maintained, even as they tried everything in their powers to get it to function normally. His comments came during an address at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi invited Opposition leaders for a breakfast meeting on Tuesday to discuss a joint strategy on Pegasus and other issues, such as the contentious farm laws and spiraling fuel prices. “We decided that we will stick to our position on these issues. If the government wants to run this session, they have to agree to a debate on Pegasus,” said an
Opposition leader after the meeting.
The breakfast meeting went on for over an hour, and Gandhi, in his short speech, pointed out that opposition parties represent 60% of India and will continue to fight unitedly.
The meeting was attended by leaders from the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Indian Union Muslim League, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress (M), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, National Conference, Trinamool Congress and Loktantrik Janata Dal. The Aam Aadmi Party and Akali Dal were not invited for the meeting.
The parties decided they would try new ways to mark their protests every day. “But the bottomline is that Parliament can’t function normally if the Pegasus issue is not discussed on the floor of the House,” said another leader.
After the meeting, Rahul Gandhi rode a cycle to Parliament to protest against the fuel price hike.
The opposition parties also reiterated their commitment to work jointly this session. A senior Congress leader said, “After news of the Pegasus issue broke, party president Sonia Gandhi told Congress leaders not to act in isolation but to jointly work with other opposition parties.”
Briefing media on the PM’s speech at the BJP MP meet, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said Modi expressed anger at the conduct of some Opposition members and said it was an insult to democracy.
The conduct of the opposition is an “insult” to Parliament and the Constitution, they have an “undemocratic” attitude and are not keen on meaningful debates Joshi said, quoting the PM.
The Prime Minister is also learnt to have criticised a tweet by TMC’s Derek O’Brien on how the bills have been passed in Parliament without referring to the MP’s name.
O’Brien tweeted on Monday: “#MASTERSTROKE #Parliament. In the first 10 days, ModiShah rushed through and passed 12 Bills at an average time of UNDER SEVEN MINUTES per Bill…Passing legislation or making papri chaat!” , referring to a popular street food.
Union minister V Muraleedharan said the PM referred to the tweet as “derogatory” and an “insult of parliamentary procedure and esteem of elected representatives.”
The PM has been flagging the issue of disruptions in Parliament for the past two weeks and underlining the need to expose the Opposition’s “attempts to derail the session”.
On Tuesday, he reiterated that BJP MPs should not give in to provocation, and remain present in the house for parliamentary business.
The Pegasus row erupted on July 18 after an international investigative consortium reported that many Indian ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists were among the 50,000 numbers that were potentially targeted by Israeli company NSO Group’s phone hacking software, Pegasus, with a forensic analysis of 10 of the targets proving they were hacked or that attempts were made to do so.
The controversy has stalled the monsoon session with the Opposition pressing its demand for a discussion.
On August 5, the Supreme Court will hear a clutch of petitions seeking a special investigation into the Pegasus scandal.
Meanwhile, defence minister Rajnath Singh reached out to two senior Opposition leaders on Monday even as the government and the Opposition stuck to their respective positions with chances of the Parliament’s normal functioning fast slipping away.
The defence minister spoke to Rajya Sabha’s Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Trinamool’s Lok Sabha chief Sudip Bandyopadhyay. According to Opposition functionaries, both reiterated that a debate on the Pegasus snooping row is a must for disruptions to end.
As many as 13 Opposition parties have been protesting from the first day of the Monsoon Session over the Pegasus controversy, the three farm laws and the spiraling fuel prices.
“Rajnath called me. I told him that Pegasus is not a personal issue but the party’s issue and a debate should take place,” said Bandyopadhyay.
Amid repeated adjournments and fierce protests, the productivity of Lok Sabha and Rajya now stands at just 14% and 20% respectively of their allotted time.