The second leg of the Budget session of the Indian parliament started on a stormy note as Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an apology from Congress parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi for “insulting India” during his speech at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Addressing the Lok Sabha (Lower House) on Monday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that “Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of this House, insulted India in London. I demand that his statements should be condemned by all members of this House and he should be asked to apologize before the House.”
“Democracy was in danger when fundamental rights of the people were suspended by the Congress party during National Emergency in 1975,” Federal Minister Piyush Goyal said, demanding Gandhi apologizes before the whole nation.
Declining to issue an apology, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the ruling party of "dictatorship", claiming there is "no rule of law [or] democracy" under BJP. He also demanded Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) be launched on the Adani-Hindenburg row, alleging that the issue is being silenced in the House.
Soon after this, a ruckus erupted in the parliament and both the Houses were adjourned until 2 p.m. (IST).
Meeting of Opposition Party Politicians
Prior to the start of the session, the politicians of at least 16 opposition parties held a meeting in the chamber of Kharge in the Parliament House to formulate a joint strategy to take on the federal government on several issues during the session.
The opposition parties decided to raise the issues of alleged misuse of federal agencies and the Adani-Hindenburg row.
Several politicians from opposition parties also staged a protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the parliament's premises demanding that a Joint Parliamentary Committee be convened to address the Adani row.
Apart from this, parliamentarians from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) protested against the misuse of federal probe agencies against the politicians of opposition parties.
The first phase of the Budget session which ended on February 13 witnessed a massive uproar over issues like the Adani row and Indo-Chinese border tensions, among others.