An all-party meeting called by the government ahead of Parliament’s Winter session began on Sunday, with the opposition expected to raise issues such as the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the Delhi blast, and foreign policy concerns.
The government delegation includes Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, and his deputy Arjun Ram Meghwal, while the opposition is represented by Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, and Pramod Tiwari; DMK’s T R Baalu; TMC’s Derek O’Brien; and IUML’s E T Mohammed Bashir.
BJP president and Rajya Sabha Leader of the House J P Nadda is also present, along with RJD’s Manoj Jha, SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur, and JD(U)’s Sanjay Jha.
After the meeting Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi alleged that the ruling party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to finish off democracy, derail Parliament and bury parliamentary traditions.
He said at the all-party meeting, the Congress demanded a discussion on national security, air pollution, ensuring purity of voter list, farmers' issues and foreign policy.
"It seems the government, under the leadership of the prime minister and the home minister, is looking to finish off India's democracy and parliamentary traditions," he told reporters after the all-party meeting.
Gogoi said his party demanded that there be a discussion on security in the country, including national security in the wake of the Delhi blast.
It seems the government does not want short duration discussion on national security, he claimed.
“The second is the security of democracy. The EC before, during and after elections is acting in a biased manner. There should be a discussion on the purity of the voter list,” he said.
Gogoi said the Congress also demanded a discussion on the issue of air pollution.
“Fourth is economic security. Farmers are not getting the right prices….also security against natural disasters,” he said.
“We also raised the issue of foreign policy. India is formulating its foreign policy on the basis of other countries. Someone does not like us buying oil from Russia. Another country is investing in its defence and we are not ready,” he said.
Gogoi said the opposition is united, and does not want the temple of democracy to be used only to sing “paeans of just one person”.
It seems the government wants to derail Parliament and bury parliamentary traditions, he alleged.
The customary meeting has been convened to ensure smooth functioning of the two Houses during the session where several new bills are planned to be introduced.
The Winter session commences on Monday and will conclude on December 19.
There will be a total of 15 sittings in the session which has been dubbed as a "brief session" by the opposition.
Usually, Parliament sessions have 20 sittings.
(With inputs from PTI)