Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and nearly a dozen other opposition leaders gathered outside Parliament on Thursday to protest an abrupt end to the monsoon session and the alleged assault on women MPs.
They also called on Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu to lodge a complaint, and alleged “outsiders who were not part of Parliament security were brought in to manhandle opposition leaders and members, including women MPs”.
“Without any provocation… outsiders, who were not part of Parliament security, were brought in to manhandle opposition leaders and members, including women MPs who were only protesting the government’s conduct, highhandedness and muzzling of their voice,” a joint statement said.
The statement slammed the government for its “authoritarian attitude and undemocratic actions”, and accused it of “deliberately derailing” the monsoon session despite the opposition having “unanimously conveyed (the need) to discuss important national issues” like the Pegasus scandal.
Apart from Mr Gandhi and his party colleagues, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut were present. Leaders from the DMK, the Samajwadi Party, the RJD, the CPM and CPI, the Muslim League, the RSP and the Kerala Congress also attended today’s joint protest.
“Today we had to come out here to speak to you (the media) as we are not allowed to speak inside Parliament…. This is the murder of democracy,” Mr Gandhi said during the protest march.
“First time ever in the Rajya Sabha… MPs were beaten, pushed around. The Chairman says he is upset… so is the Speaker. But it is their responsibility to ensure the House functions” he said.
“As far as 60 per cent of the country is concerned… there has been no Parliament. The voice of 60 per cent has been crushed… and yesterday, in the Rajya Sabha, physically beaten,” Mr Gandhi added.
Sanjay Raut, a member of the Rajya Sabha, was quoted by news agency ANI as saying that the alleged physical bullying “felt like we were standing at the Pakistan border”.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has called the allegations “totally false”.
In a lengthy press conference addressed by seven Union Ministers, the government hit back and accused the opposition of making threats if more bills were introduced in the remainder of this session.
