The Gandhi Statue in Parliament House has been witness to many protests in the past several decades but Friday was different as it became the venue for a novel protest – a 'Jan Sansad' or 'People's Parliament' for the first inside the complex.
The protest, the brainchild of suspended Congress MP Rajamani Patel, was part of the Opposition’s plan to highlight the “illegal” suspension of the MPs for the conduct during the previous Monsoon Session, which they said was precipitated by the government’s actions.
Twelve suspended MPs, whose sit-in entered the 17th day at the Gandhi Statue, were joined by a couple of their colleagues in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha and they changed the Gandhi Statue to a Parliament sitting.
The novel protest started soon after Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House for the day during the morning session itself with an appeal to the government and Opposition to sit together and resolve the impasse over the suspension.
The Opposition MPs divided themselves into the government and Opposition sides. CPI(M) floor leader Elamaram Kareem was chosen as the Chairman of the ‘Jan Sansad’ while Patel became the Leader of Opposition. Ripun Bora and Akhilesh Pratap Singh, both Congress, became the Leader of the House and Parliamentary Affairs Minister respectively.
A chair with the photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a poster ‘“Parliament? Not Needed for Me !!!”
Rajya Sabha MP Phulo Netam Devi and Lok Sabha MP MA Ariff became marshals accompanying the Chairman while Priyanka Chaturvedi, Jaya Bachchan, Dola Sen, Chhaya Verma, Binoy Viswam, Shanta Chhetri, Mausam Noor, Vishwambar Prasad Nishad, Nadimul Haque and Dr V Sivadasan among others became Opposition MPs.
The MPs sought to recreate the scenes inside at the Gandhi Statue with Kareem calling for Zero Hour and Chhaya Verma starting her speech on price rise and demanding the revocation of suspension.
On behalf of Opposition at the ‘Jan Sansad’, Patel then said that the Prime Minister was running away from debate on various issues of people they want to raise. He also demanded the revocation of suspension.
The Leader of ‘Jan Sansad’ Ripun Bora countered the demand saying the Prime Minister has ordered the suspension and they cannot revoke the suspension till they apologise, referring to the Modi government’s stand.
Dola Sen, who had a noose around her neck, then raised the issue of selling off national assets in the name of privatisation. While the government remained adamant
The MPs also carried posters like ‘Save Democracy’, ‘Democracy Killed’, ‘Justice for Lakhimpur Kheri victims’, ‘Save Constitution’, ‘Sack MoS Home’.
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