The Rajya Sabha was adjourned shortly amidst protests after Parliament recommenced after a month-long recess.
Leader of the House Rajya sabha, Piyush Goyal in his speech targetted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his recent remarks in London, following which there were heated arguments between treasury and oppostion benches.
Goyal alleged that one Opposition leader tried to show the country in a poor light while travelling abroad.
Goyal demanded that Rahul Gandhi should come to the Parliament House and should offer an apology to the members of the house and to the people of India.
The Opposition members questioned Goyal even as Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said everyone has a right to place their views in the House.
“India is the mother of democracy a proud and glorious country. A prominent Opposition leader goes abroad and attacks Indian democracy. He has insulted the people of India and the Parliament. Rahul Gandhi should apologise in Parliament over the comments. There is freedom of speech in India and MPs can speak in Parliament, said Goyal, while speaking to the media outside the house.
Further, Goyal stated that Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the speaker of the House over his comments where he had stated that opposition voices are being stifled in the Indian Parliament.
The Union Minister said, “Our democracy works on sound principles. He has humiliated the Indian parliament on foreign soil. I strongly condemn the comments he made about our Parliament. Again I will say he should come back and apologise to the House and the Speaker”.
While addressing a lecture at Cambridge University in London, Rahul; Gandhi has said, “Everybody knows and it’s been in the news a lot that Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack. I am an Opposition leader in India, we are navigating that (Opposition) space. The institutional framework which is required for a democracy Parliament, free press, the judiciary, just the idea of mobilisation, moving around all are getting constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of Indian democracy.”
The second-half of the Budget session has resumed from March 13, after a month long recess.
The first half of the Budget session also faced repeated disruptions and adjournments due to protest by Opposition and demand for JPC probe in the Adani issue.
Slamming Rahul Gandhi for “insulting India in London,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on March 13 demanded in Lok Sabha that the Congress leader should be asked to “apologise before the House.”
“Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of this House, insulted India in London. I demand that his statements should be condemned by all members of this House and he should be asked to apologise before the House,” Singh said in the lower house of the Parliament. During interaction at the Chatham House in London recently, Gandhi alleged that the microphones of Opposition leaders in Parliament are often silenced. He attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre and levelled several allegations.
Rahul Gandhi even said that Europe and the US are not doing enough to restore democracy in India as they are getting trade and money from the country.
