New Delhi: Last week’s security breach in Parliament was condemnable, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly told Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Tuesday, but at once chastised the Opposition for “politicising” the issue and holding up House proceedings.
Modi’s comments at the BJP parliamentary board meeting came amid an unprecedented crackdown in both Houses, which saw the suspension of as many as 141 MPs in the past week for ‘causing disruption’.
Both the government and the Opposition have doubled down on their respective stands over the security breach, with the BJP-led ruling coalition refusing to give in to the INDIA bloc’s demand for a statement in the House by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and a subsequent debate on the issue.
The government has dismissed calls for a debate, saying a detailed investigation into the breach would suffice.
While the Opposition termed the legislature’s crackdown an exercise in “delegitimising” Parliament, Modi urged BJP MPs Tuesday to participate in discussions, irrespective of whether others were joining.
“Some of the bills to be taken up are of great importance. We should listen to the discussion on them. It would have been good if the Opposition also participated in the debates. But perhaps good deeds are not in their fortune,” Modi was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
The Prime Minister said last Wednesday’s security breach — when two visitors exploded gas canisters in the Lok Sabha — could not be acceptable to anyone who believed in democracy.
“This act should be condemned,” Modi said, adding that the Opposition’s protests over the issue could be a means to vent their “frustration” over losing the recent state elections. He accused the Opposition of “indirectly supporting” the breach, adding this was “worrisome”.
Incidentally, six people have been arrested for Wednesday’s transgression, among them a woman, and five face terrorism charges.
The Prime Minister also said the Opposition’s behaviour indicated that they wanted to be in the opposition benches forever. “They are practising for it. The nation has also made up its mind to keep them in opposition and will perhaps push them even further behind from where they currently stand. We should expose them, but keep our voice under control and stay within the limits of democracy,” Modi said.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders called the en masse suspension of opposition MPs “dictatorial” and “autocratic”. As ThePrint reported earlier, this is the highest number of MPs to be suspended in a single session in Parliament’s history.
The Congress said “a complete purge was being executed” so that “draconian laws” could be passed without meaningful debate. “This will turn the country into a police state,” Congress MP Manish Tewari said.
Suspended Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the government action was disgraceful. “I think what we are seeing with this Parliament right now is a situation where they have no desire to have a democratic system. What they are interested in is an ‘Opposition-mukt Lok Sabha’,” said Tharoor.
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