The BJP on Monday accused Rahul Gandhi of spreading anarchy as the Opposition hit the streets to protest the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the government passed key bills in Parliament without proper discussion, citing repeated disruptions.
The BJP fielded education minister Dharmendra Pradhan at the party headquarters to slam the Opposition’s protest march to the Election Commission office against the SIR.
“The Congress and other Opposition parties want to spread anarchy in the country. By using words like ‘atom bomb’ to attack the EC, Rahul Gandhi is speaking the language of big forces who want to destroy democracy in India,” Pradhan said after Opposition MPs were detained during their protest.
Later, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the Opposition for wasting Parliament’s time and declared that the government would now proceed with the passage of important bills. “The Congress and the Opposition parties have wasted a lot of time in the ongoing monsoon session. Now, enough is enough. The government will now pass important bills,” Rijiju told reporters.
“Due to the misunderstanding of one person and one family, the country cannot bear a big loss,” he added, lashing out at Rahul for being an “irresponsible” leader of the Opposition.
Multiple bills were passed by the two Houses when they resumed business after adjournments in the morning. The National Sports Governance Bill, the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill and the Income-Tax (No 2) Bill were passed in the Lok Sabha amid protests over the SIR.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition staged a walkout, accusing Delhi Police of stopping protesters from marching to the EC headquarters. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was not allowed to raise the issue. The government used the opportunity to pass the Merchant Shipping Bill, and also returned the Manipur Appropriation Bill and the Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill.
Leader of the Rajya Sabha J.P. Nadda condemned the Opposition's walkout and accused it of “voting against Manipur”. “I say with sadness that those who were claiming to be champions of Manipur have voted against Manipur,” Nadda said.
At the party headquarters, Pradhan dismissed the allegations levelled by Rahul against the EC as a “mountain of lies”. He said the Congress had no problem when it won elections, but cried “vote theft” when it lost.
“The Congress lies about EVMs, raises the issue of Maharashtra and Haryana elections and creates a mountain of lies. It is a well-thought-out strategy to create anarchy,” the minister said.
He said the addition and deletion of names in the voter list had been carried out since Independence and accused the Congress and the Opposition of trying to get infiltrators enrolled as voters. “The lies spread by Rahul Gandhi have been punctured with evidence. They want illegal infiltrators to be included in the voter list for their appeasement politics,” he said.