The government on Monday offered to debate students’ issues and police action in Parliament with a reply by Union home minister Amit Shah, in a last-ditch effort to end the two-week-long logjam, but the Opposition insisted on specific responses and a second debate on donation theft in the Ram Temple.
In a meeting of the Lok Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) chaired by speaker Om Birla, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju made the offer. Birla, too, appealed to the Opposition to cooperate in the smooth conduct of proceedings, pointing out that the government agreed on the main demand of the Opposition — a statement by Shah.
‘We are ready for discussion’: Kiren Rijiju
“We have made it clear to the BAC of the Lok Sabha that the government is ready for a full-fledged discussion on the student and youth agitations that have been going on in different parts of the country as well as police action. The home minister will give point-by-point reply to the debate on behalf of the government,” Rijiju said after the BAC meeting.
Pointing out that the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had demanded that Shah make a statement in Parliament on the student protests. Rijiju said, “We have made our offer. Now, there appear to be some differences between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party — which they need to resolve. As for the student issue, we are ready for a discussion. We have stated our position. Now, it is up to the Samajwadi Party and the Congress to sort out the differences between them.” Both the Congress and the SP said debates on both issues were non-negotiable.
‘Don’t want fantasy statements’: Rahul Gandhi
“The question was never that Amit Shah would come and speak on some general topic. Neither we nor the nation is interested on his view on education. We are not interested in any fantasy statements from Shah. He has to clarify who authorised the shooting at youngsters in Delhi. Students were fired at. They were beaten with lathi with nails. Shah is guilty of either negligence of culpability and he must resign,” Gandhi said.
Over the past two weeks, the ongoing monsoon session has been largely washed out because the Opposition demanded a statement from Shah in the House over allegations of police excesses and the use of pellet guns at the July 20 protest demanding the resignation of then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
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To be sure, the supplementary list of business stated earlier in the day that Shah was going to introduce two bills – one to formally change the name of Kerala to Keralam, and another to amend the National Co-operative Development Corporation Act. Eventually, the first bill was introduced by Union minister of state (MoS) Nityanand Rai and the second by MoS Murlidhar Mohol.
Demand for Ram temple donation ‘theft’ debate
For the SP, which faces the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled early next year, the controversy around Ram Mandir collections has been the top issue in the monsoon session, which ends on August 13.
“The Opposition have been demanding from the very first day that the home minister make a statement. The government is not ready to do so. There are still two days left, and the government has time to discuss both issues. It is not an ordinary matter that the offerings made to Lord Ram have been stolen. The faith of crores of people has been hurt. People who donated money, offerings and dakshina with faith and devotion…were government or BJP leaders involved in it? Who will ultimately answer for this?” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said.
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Yadav alleged that the BJP formed governments by playing with people’s faith and devotion. “Why does the government not want a discussion on this issue? And the second issue is the lathi-charge on young people and the way the children, youth and students were humiliated. They were not only NEET aspirants. Along with NEET students, all those who appeared for examinations across the country and in Uttar Pradesh, including those who could not take their exams because of paper leaks, were present there…”
Hours later, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi said that Shah’s statement on police excesses and Ram Mandir theft were non-negotiable for the party.
Kharge and Gandhi both said the Opposition’s first demand was the home minister’s statement on allegations of police overreach, including the use of pellet guns and shock batons on July 20. The second demand was that the prime minister reveal the truth about the ‘offering theft’ and take the strictest possible action against the culprits. The two leaders said that the third demand was apologies from the PM and home minister.
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Kharge argued that for two weeks, the government didn’t agree to a debate on students. “This means that Shah didn’t want the debate. The PM played a big role in setting up Ram Mandir trust. He picked members who were close to him. But when people raised questions on theft and Modi’s trusted trustee—he didn’t reply. We wanted the PM to apologise to the nation because millions of people have faith in Ayodhya. Both the PM and HM are silent on these issues, which are non-negotiable. These are non-negotiable issues,” Kharge said.
Gandhi alleged that people close to the PM stole from the Ram Mandir collections and criticised Shah and Narendra Modi for not coming to the House for the past 15 days. According to a senior non-Congress MP, the presser was an attempt to avoid any fissures in the Opposition camp.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has written to Birla to urge him to demand Shah’s statement on the police brutalities on students on the floor of the House.
‘Rahul Gandhi, don’t run away’: JP Nadda
Hours later, Union minister JP Nadda accused Gandhi of deliberately disrupting Parliament for the last 15 days and misleading the country. “Gandhi was demanding a statement from home minister Amit Shah on the Jantar Mantar protest. When the home minister agreed to his demand, the Congress leader changed his goalpost and started demanding a discussion on the alleged embezzlement of Ram temple donation,” Nadda said. “Why are they running away from the discussion? I want to state clearly: Rahul Gandhi, do not run away from the discussion. We are ready. We are prepared to discuss every issue inside the House. Do not run away,” he added.
