Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday held the Centre responsible for Parliament not functioning, saying the ruling dispensation has not made any effort to reach out to the Opposition.
"The government has still not reached out to the Opposition. They are still playing the role of Opposition," Azad said. He was responding to a query on how the stalemate in Parliament over demonetisation could be resolved. "The government is 90 per cent responsible for the disruption. We are only ten per cent responsible for it,” he added.
He said the government was not interested in discussion and its ministers are provoking the Opposition by making statements against its leaders both inside and outside Parliament.
Asked if the Congress would agree for discussion on demonetisation without a rule necessitating division of House in Lok Sabha, Azad said it is now upto the government to come forward with a proposal.
"The government is so adamant. We wanted debate in Lok Sabha under a certain rule. It was not accepted. We came down one step and proposed discussion under rule 184. But that was also rejected," said the senior Congress leader.
Azad said one month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, it was clear that the move has been disastrous for Indians and for the Indian economy."Be it farmers, daily wagers, small businessmen or housewives, everyone is suffering," he said.
Lakhs of jobs have been finished, several lakhs of man hours have been lost and the GDP has incurred a loss of Rs. 128 lakh crore, Azad said.
He said the government was responsible for the loss of around a hundred lives because of demonetisation, and demanded the prime minister's apology for it.
