New Delhi [India], July 19 (ANI): As the all-party meeting concluded on Sunday ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on July 20, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the walkout staged by the opposition leaders should not be seen as a boycott, as it was symbolic in nature.
“It should not be viewed as a boycott of the entire day’s proceedings, it was symbolic,” he told reporters after the meeting, which saw a chaotic turn soon after commencing as opposition leaders walked out over the recent political shifts involving 20 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs and Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), along with six UBT Sena MPs, shifting to the Shiv Sena.
The Union Minister also shared that matters involving the numerical strength of parties were taken up for discussion, asserting that they cannot “deprive” any member of their rights.
“We discuss matters based on the numerical strength of political parties, but we certainly cannot deprive anyone of their rights,” Rijiju said.
Briefing media persons after the meeting, he urged opposition parties not to disrupt proceedings in the House, asserting that the government wants debate on Bills and should not later be accused of pushing bills through with minimal discussion or amid chaos.
Rijiju said the meeting had addressed concerns raised by smaller parties, who had sought more time to speak during the session, and assured that every party would get the chance to address their issues if the house functions without disruption.
“Members of smaller parties have requested that they be given more time to speak. To that, we have said that if the parliament session functions smoothly, everyone will get an opportunity to speak. If there is a disruption, then the opportunity to speak will be lost. Furthermore, the government should not be blamed later on by claiming that bills were passed with minimal discussion or passed amidst chaos. No such allegations should be levelled against the Government of India, because the government genuinely wants a discussion to happen, and wants everyone to carefully examine and evaluate the bills before passing them,” he said.
The leaders who participated in the symbolic walkout later returned to the meeting. TMC leader Mahua Moitra said that opposition parties registered their strong protest over the government’s decision.
“Today, the entire opposition including Congress, the Samajwadi Party, DMK, JMM, Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference, Left parties, Shiv Sena UBT have all walked out of the all party meeting in protest because the so-called NCPI, which is an unrecognized party, the strength of the All India Trinamool Congress in the list provided by the table office is shown to be 28 members. These so-called rebel 20 MPs, their merger has not been approved by the Speaker,” Moitra said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant also sharply criticised Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision to recognise the merger of six party MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, calling the move constitutionally “unlawful”.
This comes ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which is set to begin on July 20 and is scheduled to end on August 13. The mergers have ignited speculation around the Centre bringing back the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposes an increase in the number of seats in the Lok Sabha up to 850 and implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in legislatures.
The NDA is likely to move closer to the two-thirds majority mark of 360 in the House of 540 members, with three seats currently vacant. (ANI)
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