New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) Opposition leaders on Wednesday hit back at the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre of “deliberately creating a deadlock” while saying that Union Minister Shah could have responded at least a week earlier regarding the alleged police excesses against student protesters during the July 20 Parliament march.
The response comes after Home Minister Shah said that he was “ready to answer everything” regarding the July 20 incident while accusing the Opposition of deliberately preventing a discussion from taking place.
The Opposition has repeatedly demanded Union Minister Shah’s presence in the House and sought a statement from the Home Minister on the police action against students who participated in the protest march.
The standoff has led to repeated disruptions in Parliament’s Monsoon Session.
Addressing reporters outside the Parliament House, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee said: “After breaking (political) parties and securing such a large majority, the fact that you (Home Minister Amit Shah) are avoiding the House or not coming to the House shows that, somewhere, you do not want to answer the questions raised by the Opposition. You are nervous internally, and you also know that what happened in Delhi on your instructions was wrong in some way, and you have no answer for it.”
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh also said: “Tomorrow is the last day of the session, and today he (Amit Shah) suddenly got ready (to respond). This means you deliberately created a deadlock and did not let the Parliament session run. The entire government has been engaged in trying to stall the session as much as possible. And now, with just one day left before the Parliamentary session concludes, you are saying that you are ready to give a statement… let him come and say whatever he has done.”
Speaking to IANS, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Mahua Majhi echoed, saying: “So much valuable time of the country was wasted, the country’s money was wasted, there were uproars, walkouts kept happening, and the House kept getting adjourned. Now when it is almost the last day of the House, with only about half a day remaining, as generally happens on the last day, we do not understand why this is being said so late, despite the country wanting to listen from day one.”
“If this statement (by Home Minister Amit Shah) was made even a week ago then the House could have functioned well…I think in the coming times, such important issues should be discussed in the beginning (of the Parliament session) itself,” she added.
Adding to the critique, Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy said: “If he (Home Minister Amit Shah) has not done anything wrong, what has made him hide all these days and make us stage protests at the Makar Dwar every day? Instead, he could have done this last week, at least the business of the House would have continued.”
“Now, today is the last day, and we are very close to the end of the session. I don’t know why he wants to give a statement to confuse the people of this country and suggest that we are at fault. We have done nothing wrong. We have been asking him for the last 10 days to respond, but he has not done so…This is just to confuse the people of this country and send a message that it is the opposition parties who are preventing the House from functioning. This is the message they want to convey,” he told IANS.
–IANS
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