NEW DELHI: Demonstrating unity over the parliamentary agenda, opposition Saturday said its demand for discussion on Pahalgam terror attack-Operation Sindoor and “drift” in foreign policy is non-negotiable, and PM Narendra Modi should reply to the debate — an apparent red line that threatens a stormy monsoon session which gets under way Monday. The opposition has listed the controversial “special intensive review” of Bihar electoral rolls as another major issue for discussion.
The opposition argued that US President Donald Trump has been speaking non-stop about having forced cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan by using trade as the bait, and only PM Modi, who has allegedly been silent on the issue, can reply to him.
Just how much is govt willing to accommodate the opposition’s demand — subjects of discussion, duration of debate, PM’s reply — would decide the trajectory of the monsoon session. But the govt appears to have made up its line of defence for the opposition’s charge on Pahalgam-Sindoor. Official sources said the treasury will focus on how it has shown “zero tolerance” towards terrorism and its sponsors, and didn’t hesitate to target the terror hideouts deep inside Pakistan territory. They refuted allegation that PM has been silent on Trump’s mediation claim, pointing out that in a one-on-one telephonic chat the PM had rejected Trump’s assertion that he leaned on a reluctant India to suspend Operation Sindoor , pointing out that India decided to pause fire on May 10 after Pakistan conveyed its willigness to do so through military channels.
Although the expected confrontation can potentially disturb govt’s plan to get eight bills passed, it has in the recent past been able to achieve its legislative agenda by working around protests.
The INDIA bloc Saturday evening brainstormed on issues of “national concern” in a virtual meeting, that saw the participation of 24 parties and included Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML), N K Premachandran (RSP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Ramgopal Yadav (SP), Omar Abdullah (NC), Hemant Soren (JMM) and Tiruchi Siva (DMK). Rahul is learnt to have pushed for a united fight in Parliament.
Aam Aadmi Party which had decided to disengage itself from the opposition grouping, did not attend the meeting.
Another contentious issue in the session would be the “attack on migrants across the country”. TMC’s Banerjee, CPI (ML)’s Bhattacharya, and other netas highlighted that migrants from Bengal and other regions were being attacked. They linked it to the voters’ review. The discussion on migrants and voters rolls in the meeting suggests opposition may be unrelenting on the SIR.
BJP is sure to return fire by saying that the scrutiny of voters was consistent with the Constitution which lays down that only Indian citizens have the right to vote, and by accusing the oppoosition of trying to shield infiltrators from Bangladesh as part of their “votebank politics”.
Amid the differences between the govt and the opposition, a rare bipartisanship will see the Lok Sabha bring a motion to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma for alleged corruption. But even here, a fresh faultline is the pendency of the impeachment notice submitted by the opposition against Justice Shekhar Yadav of Allahahad HC for “hate speech”. While the opposition is pushing for Yadav’s sacking, the govt is reluctant to entertain it.
The opposition argued that US President Donald Trump has been speaking non-stop about having forced cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan by using trade as the bait, and only PM Modi, who has allegedly been silent on the issue, can reply to him.
Just how much is govt willing to accommodate the opposition’s demand — subjects of discussion, duration of debate, PM’s reply — would decide the trajectory of the monsoon session. But the govt appears to have made up its line of defence for the opposition’s charge on Pahalgam-Sindoor. Official sources said the treasury will focus on how it has shown “zero tolerance” towards terrorism and its sponsors, and didn’t hesitate to target the terror hideouts deep inside Pakistan territory. They refuted allegation that PM has been silent on Trump’s mediation claim, pointing out that in a one-on-one telephonic chat the PM had rejected Trump’s assertion that he leaned on a reluctant India to suspend Operation Sindoor , pointing out that India decided to pause fire on May 10 after Pakistan conveyed its willigness to do so through military channels.
Although the expected confrontation can potentially disturb govt’s plan to get eight bills passed, it has in the recent past been able to achieve its legislative agenda by working around protests.
The INDIA bloc Saturday evening brainstormed on issues of “national concern” in a virtual meeting, that saw the participation of 24 parties and included Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML), N K Premachandran (RSP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Ramgopal Yadav (SP), Omar Abdullah (NC), Hemant Soren (JMM) and Tiruchi Siva (DMK). Rahul is learnt to have pushed for a united fight in Parliament.
Aam Aadmi Party which had decided to disengage itself from the opposition grouping, did not attend the meeting.
Another contentious issue in the session would be the “attack on migrants across the country”. TMC’s Banerjee, CPI (ML)’s Bhattacharya, and other netas highlighted that migrants from Bengal and other regions were being attacked. They linked it to the voters’ review. The discussion on migrants and voters rolls in the meeting suggests opposition may be unrelenting on the SIR.
BJP is sure to return fire by saying that the scrutiny of voters was consistent with the Constitution which lays down that only Indian citizens have the right to vote, and by accusing the oppoosition of trying to shield infiltrators from Bangladesh as part of their “votebank politics”.
Amid the differences between the govt and the opposition, a rare bipartisanship will see the Lok Sabha bring a motion to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma for alleged corruption. But even here, a fresh faultline is the pendency of the impeachment notice submitted by the opposition against Justice Shekhar Yadav of Allahahad HC for “hate speech”. While the opposition is pushing for Yadav’s sacking, the govt is reluctant to entertain it.
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