Govt, Oppn at daggers drawn ahead of monsoon session

Aditi Tandon

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 16

The government and the Opposition struck dissonant notes on Monday, signalling a stormy start to the monsoon session of Parliament that commences on July 18.

Hours after the BJP fielded minister Prakash Javadekar to question Rahul Gandhi for his purported “Congress is a Muslim party” remark to an Urdu daily, the Congress president hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi with “what about the women’s reservation Bill” salvo.

An Urdu daily has reported that Rahul Gandhi, at a meeting with Muslim intellectuals last week, said, “The Congress is a party for Muslims.” While the BJP has been attacking him for what it calls “communal remarks”, Congress minority cell chief Nadeem Javed said Gandhi did not say the Congress was exclusively for Muslims and that he simply had “highlighted the inclusive approach of the Congress”.

By Monday evening, both sides were at daggers drawn with the Opposition even mulling backing a pending no-confidence motion by BJP’s estranged ally TDP in the Lok Sabha. A meeting of Opposition leaders this evening discussed the matter as the TDP reached out to the Opposition.

Speaking to The Tribune, DMK’s TKS Elangovan, who attended the Opposition meet, said, “The issue of backing the no-confidence motion was discussed at the Opposition leaders’ meeting attended by 13 parties. Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge spoke of possibilities of the Opposition backing the TPD motion on their own respective issues.”

The tone of confrontation on both sides saw a further build-up when Congress leader Anand Sharma got back at the PM saying he had a “sick mentality”. The BJP is aggressively projecting Rahul Gandhi as “communal”. 

After minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Gandhi to clarify his remarks to an Urdu daily that the Congress is a “Muslim party”, Javadekar also posed the same query to the Congress.

The Opposition has drawn up the agenda to be discussed in Parliament with lynchings topping the list along with the agrarian distress, unemployment, fuel cost rise, dilution of quota for the marginalised in universities and attacks on Dalits, minorities and tribals.