Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the LS brings Opposition together
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha on Friday has suddenly brought the entire Opposition under one umbrella. Parties like the Trinamul Congress and the AAP, that never participated in Congress-led agitations both within and outside Parliament, have now come out strongly in support of the Congress. Following the disqualification, Congress workers and leaders took to the streets and around 30 party functionaries were arrested for violating prohibitory orders.
After a protest inside the Parliament complex, many leaders from parties like the CPI, CPI(M), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), JD(U) and Aam Aadmi Party marched to Vijay Chowk, holding placards like “We demand JPC” and “Save LIC”, and a huge banner in front of them with “Democracy in Danger” written on it. The Congress said it will fight the battle both “legally and politically”. “We will not be intimidated or silenced. Instead of a JPC into the PM-linked Adani MahaMegaScam, Rahul Gandhi stands disqualified. Indian Democracy Om Shanti,” AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.
The Congress also refuted BJP chief J.P. Nadda’s allegation that Rahul Gandhi had compared OBC communities to thieves and accused the ruling party of defending the likes of fugitives Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, and indulging in “caste politics”. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “This was not a question of backward class, Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi are not of a backward class. They are trying to build a perception that Rahul Gandhi spoke against the backward class. Rahul Gandhi was putting forward the truth before the country, so they were not liking it.”
West Bengal chief minister and TMC supreme Mamata Banerjee said the Opposition leaders have become the “prime target of the BJP”. She said: “In Modi’s New India, Opposition leaders have become the prime targets of the BJP! While BJP leaders with criminal antecedents are inducted into the Cabinet, Opposition leaders are disqualified for their speeches. Today, we have witnessed a new low for our constitutional democracy,” she said in a tweet. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha was the BJP’s tactic to divert people’s attention from issues like inflation, unemployment and an “industrialist friend” sinking India’s money. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday termed Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha as a “violent attack on democracy” by the Sangh Parivar.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren Friday attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre for the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha and said that “political differences have become battles for vendetta and Opposition leaders have become targets of the saffron party”. He said this is an “Aapat Kaal” (emergency) for the nation. Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray dubbed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a “murder” of democracy and said this was the beginning of the end of “dictatorship”. In a statement, Mr Thackeray said it has become a crime to call a thief a thief, while those “looting” the country are out. Speaking on the issue in the Delhi Assembly, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said: “Now the people of the country will have to come forward and fight this, if we want to save the country, then 130 crore people will have to come forward and save the nation. It doesn’t matter which party comes into power, what’s concerning is the way democracy is being attacked.” Reacting strongly to the Lok Sabha action, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin said: “I strongly condemn the fascist action of disqualifying the young leader of India, Rahul Gandhi, from the post of Member of Parliament. This intimidating tone of action appears to send a message across that even the leader of a national political party and MP does not have the democratic right to express his opinion.”
