‘Unparliamentary words’ strengthen Opposition unity, TRS to join camp in monsoon session | India News
NEW DELHI: Opposition parties, who came together for the presidential elections recently, have already decided to coordinate their floor strategy in Parliament for the upcoming monsoon session that starts on Monday. But the new list of “unparliamentary” words that the opposition parties view as a “gag order” and are often used to criticise the government has become their latest common cause, even as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla clarified on Thursday that there was no “gag order”. Meanwhile, the opposition camp will get more muscle this monsoon session with K Chandrashekhar Rao’s TRS as a new entrant.
Calling the list an “effort to stifle the opposition voice” in the House, opposition leaders said on Thursday that they will defy the orders during the session. “Words like jumlajeevi, Covid spreader, Snoopgate, ashamed, abused, betrayed, corrupt, drama, hypocrisy and incompetent are being banned as they correctly describe the Narendra Modi government,” said the Opposition.
Even after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla clarified at a quickly called press conference on Thursday that there was no gag order, but the words (mentioned above) were those that were expunged, an infuriated opposition camp saw a design in the issue.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called it on Twitter “unparliamentary”, saying “…words used in discussion and debates which correctly describes the PM’s handling of the government, now banned from being spoken.”
TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’ Brien tweeted: “Session begins in a few days. GAG ORDER ISSUED ON MPs. Now, we will not be allowed to use these basic words while delivering a speech in #Parliament: Ashamed. Abused. Betrayed. Corrupt. Hypocrisy. Incompetent. I will use all these words. Suspend me. Fighting for democracy.”
While there may or may not be regular meetings of the opposition parties, there will be complete coordination between them, O’Brien told the TOI. “There are too many issues to be taken up starting with price rise… but the Union government will not allow a discussion on any people-centric issue in the Parliament. They run scared. They make a mockery of the Parliament. So, pre-session meetings (government with opposition parties) are a sham,” he added.
This monsoon session will see K Chandrashekhar Rao’s TRS as a new entrant to the opposition camp. Given that earlier TRS had for long been seen as supporting the Modi government on most issues, the Telengana party has now taken a decisive turn to join the Opposition. Even during the meeting of opposition leaders to decide on a common candidate for the presidential elections, the TRS had stayed out, but later it came out in support of their candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Whether Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will coordinate with the opposition, however, has to be seen, with some reservations regarding it having crept in, following AAP’s recent moves. The AAP kept itself out of the opposition camp during the presidential poll candidate selection, towing its own line. With no Lok Sabha MP, since Bhagwant Mann moved out to become Punjab chief minister, AAP will have little say in the lower house.
The opposition parties, however, have decided on a clear stand against trying to woo Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janta Dal (BJD) to join their camp on any issue in the Parliament, “as the BJD has clearly taken the government’s side”, said an opposition leader. Even for the presidential polls, the Opposition had approached the BJD, but failed to get the Odisha party’s support, even before Droupadi Murmu, who hails from the state, was named as the NDA government nominee.
Calling the list an “effort to stifle the opposition voice” in the House, opposition leaders said on Thursday that they will defy the orders during the session. “Words like jumlajeevi, Covid spreader, Snoopgate, ashamed, abused, betrayed, corrupt, drama, hypocrisy and incompetent are being banned as they correctly describe the Narendra Modi government,” said the Opposition.
Even after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla clarified at a quickly called press conference on Thursday that there was no gag order, but the words (mentioned above) were those that were expunged, an infuriated opposition camp saw a design in the issue.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called it on Twitter “unparliamentary”, saying “…words used in discussion and debates which correctly describes the PM’s handling of the government, now banned from being spoken.”
TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’ Brien tweeted: “Session begins in a few days. GAG ORDER ISSUED ON MPs. Now, we will not be allowed to use these basic words while delivering a speech in #Parliament: Ashamed. Abused. Betrayed. Corrupt. Hypocrisy. Incompetent. I will use all these words. Suspend me. Fighting for democracy.”
While there may or may not be regular meetings of the opposition parties, there will be complete coordination between them, O’Brien told the TOI. “There are too many issues to be taken up starting with price rise… but the Union government will not allow a discussion on any people-centric issue in the Parliament. They run scared. They make a mockery of the Parliament. So, pre-session meetings (government with opposition parties) are a sham,” he added.
This monsoon session will see K Chandrashekhar Rao’s TRS as a new entrant to the opposition camp. Given that earlier TRS had for long been seen as supporting the Modi government on most issues, the Telengana party has now taken a decisive turn to join the Opposition. Even during the meeting of opposition leaders to decide on a common candidate for the presidential elections, the TRS had stayed out, but later it came out in support of their candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Whether Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will coordinate with the opposition, however, has to be seen, with some reservations regarding it having crept in, following AAP’s recent moves. The AAP kept itself out of the opposition camp during the presidential poll candidate selection, towing its own line. With no Lok Sabha MP, since Bhagwant Mann moved out to become Punjab chief minister, AAP will have little say in the lower house.
The opposition parties, however, have decided on a clear stand against trying to woo Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janta Dal (BJD) to join their camp on any issue in the Parliament, “as the BJD has clearly taken the government’s side”, said an opposition leader. Even for the presidential polls, the Opposition had approached the BJD, but failed to get the Odisha party’s support, even before Droupadi Murmu, who hails from the state, was named as the NDA government nominee.
