Opposition MPs protest in Parliament complex, seek Shah's response on student crackdown
Opposition Members of Parliament held a protest march inside the Parliament complex on Wednesday, urging Home Minister Amit Shah to make a statement on the alleged use of force against students during recent protests. The demonstration also highlighted demands for a probe into the reported misappropriation of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.
The march began at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Prerna Sthal and concluded at Makar Dwar. Participants carried placards and raised slogans, with several leaders from the Opposition, including Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, taking part.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also joined the protest and questioned why the Home Minister had not addressed Parliament on these issues. "They are disrespecting Parliament. It has been so many days but they don't want to step inside the House. What is the issue in coming to the House and giving a statement?" Mr. Kharge told reporters.
The protest came on the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, which changed the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a Union Territory. Several MPs from the region carried placards demanding statehood.
A focal point of the protest was the demand for a statement from Mr. Shah in both Houses on the alleged police action against students who were demonstrating over the paper leak issue last month. Opposition MPs claimed that students were subjected to lathi-charge, tear gas, and pellet firing.
Addressing reporters, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Those holding high offices have a responsibility towards the people. It is not a dictatorship or a 'raj darbar'. So if something has happened, pellet guns have been fired on students, they have been tear-gassed and lathicharged, somebody would have ordered it. They should take responsibility, that has been the tradition of the country."
The protest also included the display of donation boxes at Makar Dwar to symbolise the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple. Some MPs placed cash in the boxes to illustrate the donations made and the reported misappropriation that followed.
Among the MPs who participated were Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress's Sagarika Ghose and Mahua Moitra, NCP (SP)'s Supriya Sule, JMM's Mahua Maji, and RSP's N.K. Premchandran.
The INDIA bloc has said it will continue to raise these issues during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.
