BUDGET SESSION

Parliament disruption: Modi's fast begins, opposition terms it a 'farce'

BJP observes a nation-wide fast over recent washout of budget session of Parliament

PTI3_1_2018_000157A, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference in New Delhi | PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders, including the Union ministers, has begun a day-long fast as a mark of protest to corner the opposition over the recent washout of the budget session of Parliament.

Addressing party MPs through an audio conference call ahead of the protest, Modi said the BJP leaders and its workers will observe the fast on Thursday to "expose" those handful of people who "throttled" democracy by stalling Parliament proceedings during the budget session.

Last week, while speaking at the BJP's parliamentary party meeting, Modi had accused the opposition, particularly the Congress, of practising divisive politics and stalling Parliament.

Proxy disruption in Parliament: Tharoor 

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor accused the BJP of engineering "proxy disruption" during the recently-concluded Budget session of Parliament. "The allegations (against the opposition) are baseless. Congress members remained seated and never trooped into the well," Tharoor said, when asked about the BJP's accusation that the session was washed out because of disruptions by Congress members. "Modi had said four years ago that`Na khaunga,na khane dunga', and it is good that he is not going to eat tomorrow."

"Earlier, BJP's ally, was disrupting the House," he said, in an apparent reference to the TDP which had raised the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh in Parliament.

"When they sat down after 10 days, the AIADMK, which survives in Chennai only because of the support of the BJP, started protesting in the House over the Cauvery issue.

"They are not opposition parties, they had never opposed the BJP so far," he said. "I feel it was a government-sponsored disruption. The way they (government) want proxy voting (rights) for non- resident Indians, they did proxy-disruption inside Parliament," the Congress MP said.

"The BJP wanted to avoid debate on no-confidence motion. Just to avoid the country listening to a debate on the failure of the government, they did not allow the debate," Tharoor alleged. "Naturally, the government was going to win the vote (on no-confidence motion) but they did not even want to have a discussion on the allegations being levelled against them," he said.

'Farce of a fast'

However, the opposition has questioned Modi's fast and termed it a "farce of a fast" and a "photo-op". 

Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said the proposed fast by the BJP MPs led by the prime minister tomorrow was a "drama", adding that time has come for the PM to take 'sanyas' (retirement). ""This is a farce of a fast by the Modi government.It is only a photo opportunity. The BJP should apologise to the nation and hold a fast for disrupting Parliament for over 250 hours. The Lok Sabha, where the BJP has a majority, functioned for only one percent of its time and the Rajya Sabha functioned for six percent of its time," he told reporters in New Delhi. "Prime Minister ji, it is not the time to observe fast, in view of your failures... it is time to take retirement instead. If you do not wake up now, you should understand that the time of your retirement will come in 2019 when people will vote you out," he said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi earlier today hit out at the Centre over the alleged rape of a 18-year-old woman by a BJP MLA and the custodial death of her father in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district.

"The brutality unleashed on a father seeking justice for his daughter in Uttar Pradesh has shamed humanity. I hope the prime minister will soon observe a fast over the atrocities committed on women, failure of law and order and rising anarchy under the BJP rule," he tweeted in Hindi.

Gandhi also posted a purported video in which the victim's father is seen speaking against the BJP MLA.

Atrocious, says Naidu

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu also questioned Modi's decision to observe a fast protesting the washout of Parliament's budget session, alleging it was the Centre which had caused the disruption by provoking the AIADMK over the Cauvery issue. Naidu claimed the Centre did not constitute the Cauvery Management Board because of upcoming elections in Karnataka.

They government "provoked" the AIADMK and "ensured" that the MPs of the ruling party in Tamil Nadu stormed the well of the Lok Sabha and thereby did not allow the TDP to raise its demand (for granting a special category status to Andhra Pradesh), he said here. "How atrocious... And now he (Modi) says he will observe a protest... seeking to portray the opposition as wrong and he as right. Is it correct? Is it justified," the chief minister asked.

Naidu, whose party recently snapped ties with the NDA, was addressing a meeting in connection with the birth anniversary celebrations of social activist Jyotirao Phule.

"A person of the stature of the Prime Minister should stand by his word He should keep his word. It is not correct for him to provoke people of different states and foment hatred," he said in a hard-hitting speech.

Nation-wide fast

Besides Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu will observe the fast in Delhi.

As per the schedule prepared by the BJP for observing the fast across the country, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda will be in Modi's constituency Varanasi, while Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will travel to Patna for it, party sources said.

Many other ministers will travel to various places across the country to observe the fast. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will observe the fast in Chennai, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javdekar in Benguluru, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel in Tamil Nadu and Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.

Tourism Minister KJ Alphons will observe the fast in Kerala.

Besides ministers, all the party MPs will also sit on a fast in their respective constituencies, while BJP chief Amit Shah will hold a sit-in at Hubli in poll-bound Karnataka.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will observe a day-long 'symbolic fast' in Lal Darwaja area, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel would join in the protest in his constituency, Mehsana.

(With inputs from PTI)