Continuing his attack on the government over his intention to speak about a specific incident concerning 2020 standoff with China mentioned in former Army Chief MM Naravane’s book, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t come into the Lok Sabha “because he was scared of what we were going to say” and “was scared of being handed General Naravane’s book as a first step”.
Talking to reporters, Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, rejected criticism that the opposition members could have resorted to “unprecedented situation” in the House and said “there’s no question of our members attacking the Prime Minister” and asked if anybody said so, why the government has not taken action.
He also said the government “is worried” about holding a debate on the union budget because the US deal and its impact on farmers will be discussed.
The Lok Sabha continued to face adjournments over opposition’s demand that Rahul Gandhi should be allowed to make his intended remarks.
Amid stalemate, the House had last week adopted the motion of thanks on the President’s Address without proper debate.
Rahul Gandhi referred to the talks with the government over the stalemate in the House.
“The agreement is that we’ll be allowed to say these points and then the discussion should happen. So we are quite keen that the discussion happens. We want the discussion to happen, but now let us see what the government says. My personal view is that the government is scared to have a debate. The Prime Minister didn’t come into the House because he was scared of what we were going to say. He was scared of being handed General Naravane’s book as a first step,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“My guess is that the government is worried about having a debate on the budget because the issue of the US deal, the way it was done, what has happened, the impact on our farmers is going to be discussed, and the government doesn’t want to do that,” he added.
The Congress leader also accused Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of misleading the House about Gen Naravane’s memoir.
“The story started a few days ago when the issue of the Naravane book came, and the government didn’t want me to discuss that at all. So they stalled the House. They didn’t let me speak. That happened three or four times. First, they said that I cannot quote a book. Then I said I’m not quoting a book, I’m quoting a magazine. Then they said you cannot quote a magazine. Then I said I’ll speak about it. Then they didn’t want me to speak about it. The Defence Minister said, falsely, that the book has not been published. In fact, the book has been published and we’ve got a copy of it also. So that is one big issue. Not allowing the LoP and the entire opposition to speak in the president’s address,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi also made a veiled reference to BJP member Nishikant Dubey and said he had made “very vile allegations” against Congress leaders.
“The second issue is that one of their members spoke, quoting books, multiple books, spoke very vile stuff, and nothing was said. We don’t like the fact that they can say whatever they want, whenever they want, and the opposition cannot. The third issue is the suspension of our members. And the final issue, which we are very disturbed about, is this idea that has been floated that members were going to threaten the Prime Minister. There’s no question of that. The fact is very clear. The Prime Minister was scared to come to the House, not because of the members, but because of what I was saying. He’s still scared because he cannot face the truth,” he said.
“There’s no question of our members attacking the Prime Minister. He should have the courage to come. I also mentioned that if somebody said that he’s going to attack the Prime Minister, then please do an FIR at once. Arrest that person. Why are you not doing that? So that’s basically what’s happened,” he added.
The Rajya Sabha has taken up discussion on the Union Budget. (ANI)
