The Monsoon Session of Parliament witnessed a stormy day on Tuesday with the opposition parties upping the ante against Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and the Narendra Modi government for suspending 25 Congress MPs.
The opposition attack was led by the Congress leadership, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Addressing mediapersons, the Congress president lashed out at the government over suspension of Congress MPs, saying, "Suspension of our MPs is anti-democratic. Democracy is being murdered."
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, meanwhile, justified the Congress demand for the resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
"The Congress has raised (the issues) before the country, before the government and before Parliament. We want Parliament to run smoothly. It is the responsibility of the government to take into account the concerns that we have been voicing.
"Certain ministers, whose conduct is not in line with Parliamentary traditions, we are fully justified in demanding that these ministers should be asked to submit their resignation," Singh said.
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat', Rahul Gandhi said, "PM Modi does 'Mann Ki Baat'. I hope he hears people's 'Mann Ki Baat' too. We will take on the government everywhere across the country. Sushma Swaraj has broken the law. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is directly involved financially with Lalit Modi."
Congress MPs staged protests near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament over the issue of MPs’ suspension for five days.
Nine other opposition parties, including JDU, RSP, NCP, AAP, CPI, CPM, BJD and TMC also joined the protest led by Congress and boycotted Parliament.
Meanwhile, all Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha attended the BJP Parliamentary Party meet chaired by Prime Minister Modi. The meeting was organised to plan the strategy against opposition's decision to boycott Parliament.
"Congress attended the Monsoon session with a mind to ensure a washout and so they are disrupting the proceedings," said BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
Later, the BJP hit back at the opposition, saying that the Congress was “jealous” of the achievements of PM Modi.
Attacking the Congress, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said that the Opposition party was driven by "ineptitude" and its "jealousy" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "successes".
Lashing out at the Congress, the government said that there was no democracy in the DNA of the Opposition party which is ruled by "maa-beta" (mother-son).
Union minister Prakash Javadekar also blamed the Congress chief and party's vice-president Rahul Gandhi for the disruption of Monsoon Session of Parliament.
(With inputs from PTI)
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