New Delhi: Opposition leaders raised several issues ranging from Birbhum violence to fuel price hike, unemployment to bullet train in the Lok Sabha on March 24, Thursday.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MPs walked out when their demand for a discussion on unemployment was turned down by the speaker. Meanwhile, the United Democratic Front (UDF) MPs from Kerala alleged in the Lower House that the Delhi Police “attacked and manhandled” them while they were protesting against the K-Rail project at Vijay Chowk.
‘Manhandled by Delhi Police,’ allege UDF MPs
The UDF MPs alleged the Delhi Police stopped them from marching to parliament and “manhandled” them in the process, leading to a scuffle. Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden said he was reportedly slapped.
According to news reports, Congress MP Benny Behanan was pushed by the police, while MP K. Muraleedharan, T.N. Prathapan and Dean Kuriakose were also roughed up. Even the woman MP from Alathur, Ramya Haridas, was heckled.
During the protest in the Lower House, Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N. K Premachandran asked, “What is the authority of the Delhi Police to block us MPs at the gate of Parliament House?” Meanwhile, Congress MP K. Suresh while elaborating on the incident said it was when 12 of the MPs were walking in protest from Vijay Chowk to Parliament House that the police stopped them. “We were assaulted, attacked brutally by the Delhi police.”
The Delhi Police, however, denied the allegations. Its public relations officer, Suman Nalwa, said that the MPs did not show their identity cards when they were asked for it. They were allowed to go forward only after the staff from the security pocket at Gate No. 1 of parliament identified them.
Meanwhile, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament House complex over the issue.
Birbhum violence
The opposition leaders also raised the issue of Birbhum violence, in which eight people, including two children, were burnt alive in alleged retaliation after a Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat leader was allegedly murdered in Bogtui village of Rampurhat.
BJP MP Saumitra Khan rushed to the well, raising slogans against the ruling TMC government in the state. The MP also accused the state government of turning West Bengal into a “land of terror”.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi alleged that the state police restrained leader of opposition, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, from meeting the victims in Rampurhat.
In response, TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said that a delegation of the party had met Union home M=minister Amit Shah, who said there should be no politics over the issue, and that the guilty should be severely punished.
Also read: Bengal Killings: Amidst Outrage, TMC Leader Arrested After CM’s Visit to Village
Fuel price hike and unemployment
When the opposition raised concerns over rising fuel prices, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri responded by saying it is due to an increase in crude prices in the international market.
The minister said the Union government was trying to make fuel available to people at “affordable” rates.
Replying to a question, he said the price of LNG has gone up by over 37% in the international market between April 2021 and February 2022 because of “an unsettled condition and military action in one part of the world following the COVID-19 crisis”. However, he added, “Our increase at the bunk has been only 5%.”
Separately, the TRS MPs claimed that there were one million vacant posts in the central government, and said that reports of suicides by educated unemployed people continue unabated.
The members, led by floor leader Nama Nageswara Rao, raised slogans, trooped into the well and demanded a discussion on the matter. However, speaker Om Birla did not allow a discussion on the matter, after which the MPs staged a walkout from the Lower House.
‘Bullet train, a vanity project’
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien termed the bullet train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad a ‘vanity project’ of the Union government, which is not addressing the “real transportation needs” of the people.
“To make that bullet train, it costs you about Rs 200 crore a kilometre. Our priority would have been the dedicated freight corridor for ‘sabzi’ (vegetables), for ‘chawal (rice), ‘for everything else at Rs 25 crore a kilometre,” he said.
The MP further said that the government should first consider the ability of common Indians to afford such expensive trains.
In response, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “The question raised here is, what is the need for a bullet train? I want to put the question before the House, what are the aspirations of our next generation? Don’t their aspirations have to be modern?”
Simultaneous polls
BJP MP D.P. Vats raised a demand for holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies and municipal bodies, to avoid draining of the country’s resources.
He said the country is in “permanent election mode” with some or the other elections happening in parts of the country.
He suggested that either the term of the state assemblies be extended to meet this objective or other means be adopted for it.