Opposition's voice is being stifled, says Rahul Gandhi

BJP criticises Gandhi's "contrived aggression"

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s new-found “aggression” became the talking point on Wednesday, after he led protesting party members into the well of the Lok Sabha, demanding a discussion on communal violence and subsequently alleging Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was acting in a partisan manner.

Trouble started when Opposition benches, led by the Congress, wanted their notice for suspension of Question Hour and discussion on communal violence to be taken up. Since the Speaker disallowed it, the Opposition benches started sloganeering, after which Gandhi walked into the well of the House.

Till date, Gandhi has preferred having fellow Congressmen walk into the well but has never done so himself; he was also seen consulting his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi when doing so.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi minced no words, saying, “The Speaker, I mean...is completely one-sided, and partial. We are not being allowed to speak in Parliament. We are asking for a discussion. There is a mentality in the government that discussion is not acceptable. Everybody feels it, their party feels it, we feel it, everybody feels it.”

Alluding to Narendra Modi without naming him, Gandhi said, “There is a mood in Parliament that only one man’s voice counts for anything in this country. We are raising a point, we are asking for discussion...” Modi was present in the House, when the protests took place.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were quick to respond to Gandhi. With his leadership being questioned by a slew of top leaders, the latest being Jagmeet Singh Brar, the BJP alleged Wednesday’s outburst was a bid to remain relevant.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley likened it to a “palace coup” within the Congress, compelling the Gandhi scion to display “contrived aggression.” “Questions are being raised about the competence of the leadership. It (scenes in Parliament) is just to show their leaders that they are also capable of aggression,” said Jaitley.

Apart from the Congress, members from the Nationalist Congress Party, Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Aam Aadmi Party joined   the protests.

The Opposition also raised the issue of a spike in communal violence in the country. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who made a strong pitch for raising the “urgency” of the issue of communal violence during Zero Hour, said, “Since this government has come to power, communal riots are spreading everywhere. Who is behind it? That has to be discussed.” This triggered vociferous protests from BJP members.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu dismissed it as a baseless allegation. “It is objectionable. There is peace in the country and there should also be peace in the House,” said Naidu.

The Congress also used its official podium to raise the issue of rising number of incidents of communal violence. “There have been almost 600 incidents in the past 10 to 12 weeks and almost 400 of those are in  constituencies going for bypolls. The atmosphere is being vitiated and such incidents are being incited,” stated spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.