Suspensions 'tailor-made' to throttle voice of oppn in Parliament: Cong

The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the government was not allowing the Parliament to function to avoid getting exposed on people's issues like price rise and demanded that it apologises to them for ''wrongly'' suspending its members.

Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said there was no question of them apologising to the government as they had only raised issues concerning the people in a democratic manner in Parliament, but the government suspended them in violation of the rules and parliamentary practices.

He accused the government of ''throttling democracy'' and the voice of the opposition by suspending 12 opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha so that they ''do not raise issues concerning the common people''.

He also termed the suspension as ''a one sided tailor-made decision to ensure that the voice of the opposition is suppressed and the house does not function in order''.

''The government does not want the house to function properly and it is the government which is responsible for creating a situation to not allow the house to function,'' Gohil alleged.

The Congress leader also alleged that the suspension of MPs has been done for political motives and calculations in mind, as some of the MPs who were named by the chair during the previous session were not suspended, keeping upcoming assembly elections in mind.

He said these MPs wanted to raise issues of price rise, unemployment, compensation to the victims of coronavirus and farmers issues including grant of legal status to Minimum support price.

Asked if the suspended MPs would apologise after the government made this demand before revoking the suspensions, Gohil said, ''They say apologise, but for what?'' ''We believe in Gandhi's ideology and we will not apologise. Our MPs have been suspended illegally and in violation of the rules and precedents and their suspension should be revoked immediately. The government should apologise instead for wrongly suspending opposition members,'' he said.

The Congress leader said it is the government's responsibility to run the house properly and they as a responsible opposition are seeking to raise the voice of the people and issues.

''Mr Modi does not believe in democracy and believes in dictatorship instead, but opposition parties will not tolerate this and will not fear such tactics,'' Gohil also said, claiming that the prime minister wants to implement the 'Modi model' in Parliament as he did in Gujarat assembly as the chief minister of the state.

On whether the opposition will boycott the house further, Gohil said leaders of all opposition parties will meet everyday and decide on future course of action.

Gohil also hoped the Government will approach the opposition and make an atmosphere for the smooth functioning of the house as it is the the duty of the party in power to reach out to the opposition in a democracy.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)