NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha finally resumed its normal functioning on Monday after a week-long disruption over the three Central agri laws following an appeal by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that it was a duty of every member to maintain the tradition of passing the Motion of Thanks to President’s address.After the House convened at 5 pm, Singh said the tradition of thanking the President has been continuing for long and it should not be broken in a healthy democracy.
The Opposition, however, went all guns blazing against the government, demanding accountability for the miscreants hoisting the flag at the Red Fort while alleging that the ruling dispensation has been resorting to dividing the ranks of the agitating farmers.
Resuming the discussion, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee focused her attention on the incumbent Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government in a bid to send out the message in the run-up to the Assembly elections. She charged that CM Mamata Banerjee is practising the double standard, saying that she sends her party MPs to the Ghazipur border in Delhi to join the farmers’ protests but doesn’t allow the implementation of the Central scheme in the state.
Leader of the Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury led the Opposition charge against the government, alleging that the government has turned deaf ear to the agitation. “It was the government which allowed the tractor rally on a specified route. How did the farmers deviate from the approved route and how could they enter a heavily guarded Red Fort. Who will take the responsibility,” he asked.
The Congress leader also questioned the scale of the reaction of the government to the remark of an “18-year-old climate activist”, reminding that the PM also had taken part in a public rally in the US. PM Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah were present in the Lower House when Chowdhury spoke.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who was repeatedly interrupted for her remarks against a former CJI, alleged that “the government has turned propaganda and disinformation into a cottage industry”.