NEW DELHI, AUG 3 (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of insulting the electorate by skipping Parliament and said the Opposition protest will continue until he speaks on the floor of the House over the police action on students agitating on the NEET paper leak issue.
“Either he (Modi) is afraid of facing the House and the MPs, or he does not have any regard for Parliament. Any one of the two is possible,” Kharge told reporters outside Parliament on the protest in both Houses by opposition parties which are demanding the prime minister’s apology on the violence against students.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the prime minister is not just insulting Parliament, but also the people who have elected the Parliamentarians.
“Modi ji should apologise for lathi-charging and firing pellet guns at the youth… but instead of coming to Parliament, he is intimidating and threatening the children,” Kharge alleged in a post in Hindi on X.
“They do not come to the House, they do not answer questions, they do not speak on the theft of donations at Ram temple, nor do they say anything on the suppression of students. Innocent children are not traitors; do not label them as such. The real traitors are the BJP people! … who are crushing democracy,” he said.
He said when the prime minister can wake up at midnight and make his point on Instagram, “he should say the same thing in Parliament. He should instead call a press conference and answer the questions”.
“This is an insult to Parliament, to the people who have elected Parliamentarians as well as to democracy. In a democracy, debates take place, and the government responds to the debate, but the prime minister is not even entering the House,” the Congress chief said.
Kharge said the prime minister is also talking about forgiving children, but “he should apologise to the children instead as it is his government which used tear gas, lathis and pellet guns against protesting children. He should have apologised for all that”.
He accused the prime minister of trying to divert attention from the real issue.
“The fact that he is not coming to Parliament and speaking, it is an insult to Parliament. The people who have elected all the MPs want to hear him out and that is why the opposition members are protesting in both Houses,” he noted.
Kharge suggested that PM Modi should sit in the House and hear the members. “We are ready for a discussion. All our notices have been rejected. We will continue to agitate to bring the truth out,” Kharge said
The opposition leaders said they will also raise the issue of donation theft at the Ram temple in Ayodhya “as it is people’s money which has been embezzled”.
He lamented that the students who are protesting are being dubbed as “anti-national”.
He reminded the BJP about alleged attempts to bring down the Congress-led UPA government by “funding” the Anna Hazare-led Jan-Lokpal agitation. “What was it,” he asked, alleging, “It is the BJP people who are anti-national as they are crushing democracy.”
The Congress has accused the government of using force against the protesting students who were highlighting the problems afflicting the education and exam system in the country and demanded accountability for the police action against them.
The Congress has also been demanding that Home Minister Amit Shah make a statement in Parliament on the students’ stir.
“Why is the Home Minister not coming to Parliament?” AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.
He said the Home minister was very active during previous sessions, but is not attending this session. “The atrocities and attacks against students are still continuing. We, and the entire country, need an answer from the Home Minister,” he said.
