New Delhi: Opposition MPs on Wednesday staged a protest march inside the Parliament House complex, pressing for Home Minister Amit Shah to make a statement on alleged police excesses against students, a discussion on the alleged “misappropriation” of Ram temple donations and restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir, PTI reported.
Waving placards and raising slogans against the government, the MPs, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, walked from the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Prerna Sthal to Makar Dwar.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge too joined the demonstration and called on the government to be held answerable.
Taking a dig at Shah, Kharge questioned why the Home Minister has not been attending the House.
“They are disrespecting Parliament. It has been so many days but they don’t want to step inside the House. What is the issue in coming to the House and giving a statement?” Kharge told reporters.
Are they deaf and dumb, he asked.
The MPs displayed placards criticising the government and sought Shah’s statement in both Houses of Parliament on the alleged “atrocities” committed by police and other forces against students during protests over the paper leak matter last month.
A number of MPs also brought up the issue of alleged “misappropriation” of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Several lawmakers, including those from Jammu and Kashmir, held placards demanding statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.
Wednesday marks the seventh anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir being turned into a Union Territory.
The MPs shouted slogans such as ‘chhanda chor, gaddi chor’, ‘Amit Shah jawaab do’ and ‘chanda chor kahan milenge, BJP ke daftar mein’.
To dramatise the alleged theft of Ram temple donations, the MPs placed donation boxes before the steps of Makar Dwar and gathered around them while raising slogans against the government.
A few MPs also put cash into the box to represent the donations made and the alleged “theft” that followed.
Along with Kharge, the protest saw the participation of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, SP leaders Dimple Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav, TMC MPs Sagarika Ghose and Mahua Moitra, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, JMM’s Mahua Maji, RSP’s NK Premchandran and several others.
As they marched, the protesting MPs lined up behind a large banner that read ‘Amit Shah jawaab do’.
Priyanka Gandhi also attacked the government and demanded accountability over the alleged police excesses against students.
“Those holding high offices have a responsibility towards the people. It is not a dictatorship or a ‘raj darbar’. So if something has happened, pellet guns have been fired on students, they have been tear-gassed and lathicharged, somebody would have ordered it. They should take responsibility, that has been the tradition of the country,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
The INDIA bloc has said it will intensify pressure on the government over allegations of Ram temple donation theft and the reported use of “brutal force” against students during protests last week.