The Congress on Wednesday lashed out at the Union government for "not allowing" Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to finish his speech in the Lok Sabha, questioning what Prime Minister Narendra Modi would reply to when a debate hasn’t even taken place in the Lower House.
The assertion came after a meeting of Congress floor leaders at party chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence.
Speaking to reporters, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said, "For the last three days, the Leader of Opposition has not been allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha, and he has not been able to finish his speech."
"He is being purposely stopped because he is raising very important and sensitive issues related to national security,” Ramesh added.
Ramesh informed that at 10 am on Thursday, all floor leaders of the opposition parties in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will meet at Kharge’s chamber in Parliament to decide on the future strategy.
"But the way the LoP is being prevented from speaking, we are unable to bear this. Insults have been hurled on former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi by BJP MPs, which we condemn strongly. We want action against them," Ramesh said, adding that the real issue is that Rahul is not being allowed to speak.
Asked about Modi's possible reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the president's address, Ramesh said the prime minister will speak in the Lok Sabha when the LoP speaks.
"If the LoP does not speak, what is the point of a debate? The prime minister replies to the debate. If the debate hasn't taken place, what will the PM speak on,” he asked.
"Though we know that the prime minister will make an election speech. That is what he has been doing for the last 11 years. He will defame the Congress, Nehru and the Congress leadership. We know that. But the debate is initiated by the LoP, who has not been allowed to speak,” Ramesh said.
Rahul is raising fundamental questions on national security and abdication of the responsibility by the prime minister by quoting impeccable sources, but he is not being allowed to complete his speech, Ramesh said.
"What is the question of a debate, what will the PM reply to? Will the PM reply to his own speech," the Congress leader asked.
The meeting at Kharge's residence was attended by Ramesh, Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K. C. Venugopal, Pramod Tewari, and Manickam Tagore, among others.
Later, in a post on X, Ramesh said, "To recall and remind – on June 10, 2004, the prime minister was prevented by the BJP from speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address."
In another post, he recalled, "on March 10, 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began his speech on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address thus -- 'Mr. Speaker, Sir, | deem it a great privilege to be standing here today to express the gratitude of our Government to the respected Rashtrapatiji for his address to Members of both Houses of Parliament. Sir, this is a hard earned privilege for me since I have had to wait out the entire year to perform this happy task. I would like to take this opportunity to doubly thank the President -- for his address last year and his address this year,' he said."
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday saw dramatic scenes as women MPs from the opposition marched towards the Treasury benches holding banners ahead of Prime Minister Modi's scheduled reply to the discussion on the motion of thanks on the president's address.
The prime minister was not present in the House, and BJP member P. P. Chaudhary was making his remarks when Opposition members trooped into the Well of the House and made their way to the Treasury benches, protesting the trade deal with the US and former Army chief M. M. Naravane's unpublished book.
The Lok Sabha has witnessed stormy protests by opposition members over Rahul's insistence on referring to the 'unpublished' book of Naravane, which was strongly opposed by senior ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah.
Rahul on Wednesday cited Naravane's 'unreleased' memoir to claim that Prime Minister Modi shed responsibility during the India-China conflict in 2020 and passed the buck on to the general.
Addressing reporters in the Parliament House complex, Rahul held up the 'unreleased' memoir and said, "The speaker has said this book does not exist, the government has said it does not exist, defence minister Rajnath Singh ji has said this book does not exist. Every youngster in India should see that this book exists."
