New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien said Tuesday while his party is all for Opposition unity, it is not anybody’s “rubber stamp”. He also said his party does not want to boycott the session, as is reportedly being discussed by some Opposition parties.
O’Brien’s comments come amid a tussle between the TMC and the Congress over several defections from the latter to the Bengal-based party.
Asked why the Trinamool chose not to sign a joint statement by Opposition parties over the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs Monday, O’Brien said: “It was 2.30-3 pm. I was at the working committee meeting. We had a press conference on the issue. We are not like some other parties that are in alliance with a political party or running a government with them. We fought alone in Bengal and we won. We are not duty-bound to anybody. We want Opposition unity but will not be anybody’s rubber stamp.”
Twelve Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha were Monday suspended for the remaining part of the winter session for their alleged unruly behaviour during the monsoon session. The Opposition parties, including the Congress, DMK, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, and Aam Aadmi Party, subsequently issued a joint statement calling the suspension “unwarranted and undemocratic”. The Trinamool Congress, however, chose not to sign it.
On Monday, the TMC also skipped a meeting of the Opposition parties called by the Congress.
Without naming the Congress but making it clear that his party wants to continue to keep a safe distance from the member of the Opposition bloc with the maximum number of MPs, O’Brien said it is not about what method a party chooses to make itself heard but the issues it wants to be heard about.
“The issue is of strengthening parliamentary democracy, the issue is that you cannot muzzle Opposition voices and suspend members just because you feel like doing so. You cannot pass or repeal Bills without discussion. All Opposition is on the same page in that we want a detailed discussion on unemployment, on national security Pegasus, on BSF and how the federal structure is being trampled upon, and on Covid. There is no issue (among Opposition parties). Issues are common, parties may have different tactics,” he said.
Earlier during the day, both Congress and Trinamool raised the issue of the suspension of RS MPs but walked out some time apart from each other.
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‘Don’t want to boycott Parliament’
While some Opposition parties have talked about boycotting the winter session to protest against the suspension of MPs, O’Brien was categorical that his party will attend Parliament even as it protests the suspension in other ways.
However, there was a “broad agreement” about an Opposition protest Tuesday morning over the suspensions — two Trinamool leaders, Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetry, who are among the suspended legislators, will sit at the Gandhi statue every day for the duration of the session as a mark of protest.
“We don’t want to boycott Parliament. We will fight using the tactics that we deem fit. We will not apologise because we made no mistake. But this rhetoric of anybody who adopts a different stance being the B-team of BJP has to stop,” he added. “The bottom line here is that we have to stop the fascist BJP from trying to run Delhi and Parliament the way they ran Gujarat. But there cannot be any one-upmanship.”
(Edited by Neha Mahajan)
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