Parliament logjam can be resolved if Opposition comes forward for talks, says Amit Shah

New Delhi, March 18

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said the current logjam in Parliament can be resolved if the Opposition comes forward for talks and that the government will go “two steps ahead” if it takes “two steps forward”.

Participating in a programme here on Friday, Shah said there are certain issues which are above politics and even former prime minister Indira Gandhi had refused to discuss domestic politics in a foreign land.

“Let the two sides sit before the Speaker and discuss. They should come two steps forward and we will go two steps ahead. Then Parliament will start running. But you just hold a press conference and do nothing, it can’t be like that,” he said.

The home minister said a parliamentary system can’t run with only the treasury or only the Opposition as both have to talk to each other.

“Despite our initiative, there has been no proposal for talks from the Opposition. So whom will we talk to? They are talking to the media. They created a slogan that there should be freedom of speech in Parliament. There is complete freedom of speech in Parliament. No one can stop you from talking,” he said.

However, Shah said, everyone has to follow rules and there can’t be freestyle and everyone should have to study the rules and understand them.

He said, “The debates in Parliament take place as per rules. You can’t talk in Parliament like one can do on the road. If they don’t have this basic concept, what can we do?”