Government embarrassed in Parliament over Gaza debate

CPI(M) accuses govt of bending over backwards to please Israel

The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government suffered a major embarrassment on Thursday after Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari rejected External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s plea for not to allow a discussion in the House over the ongoing fighting in Gaza.

However, Ansari decided to keep the discussion for a later date, which angered Opposition members, who disrupted the House proceedings. The Opposition parties accused the NDA government of “diminishing the stature of Parliament”. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said in his 20 years in the Lok Sabha and 10 years in the Rajya Sabha, he had never seen a minister preventing a listed business from being taken up for discussion. Later in the evening, it was decided to take up the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

 

This is the third day the Rajya Sabha had witnessed ruckus over the situation in West Asia. As soon as the House convened this morning for the Question Hour, the Opposition demanded the discussion be taken up. This led to heated exchanges between the ruling NDA and the Opposition. Later, the House was adjourned. Ansari thereafter gave his ruling, “I am unable to accede to the request of the minister” and cited rules in favour of the notices given by the Opposition demanding a discussion.

On Wednesday, Swaraj had opposed any debate on the issue, arguing that it “didn’t directly concern the government of India” and it could “affect the country’s relations with two friendly countries — Israel and Palestine”.

The issue has united the major Opposition parties, with the Congress, Left parties, Trinamool Congress and others saying that a listed business of the House can’t be dropped at the whims of the government.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said, “The only reason for the government to adopt such an attitude is that the BJP does not want to displease Israel and the US due to its political affinity with them. It is rather bending over backwards to please them.”

“We think the government is filibustering a debate on the Israeli aggression and bombardment of the Gaza strip. The UN has also condemned it and soon the European Union is likely to do so,” he added.

The inconsistent stand of the government on the issue has been evident from its statements. On July 10, a ministry of external affairs spokesperson, in New Delhi’s only statement until now on the Israel-Gaza crisis and in a reply to a query from media, expressed India’s deep concern at the violence between Israel and Palestine and at the heavy air strikes in Gaza that have resulted in tragic loss of civilian lives. “At the same time, India is alarmed at the cross-border provocations resulting from rocket attacks against targets in parts of Israel.”

India called upon both sides to exercise restraint and advocated resumption of direct talks “in adherence to the obligations assumed by them under the peace process, for a comprehensive resolution of the Palestinian issue”.

However, the declaration of BRICS summit, issued on Tuesday, to which PM Narendra Modi was a signatory, was forthright in its criticism of Israel. The declaration called upon Israel and Palestine to resume negotiations with “mutually agreed and internationally recognised borders based on the June 4, 1967 lines. We oppose the continuous construction and expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by the Israeli government, which violates international law, gravely undermines peace efforts and threatens the viability of the two-state solution.”

The Opposition has succeeded in putting the government on the mat over the issue and ensured that the ruling combine does not set the ground rules for the legislature.