INDIA bloc 'shaking', SP, DMK, TMC did not join Congress protest against resolution on Emergency: BJP
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla conducts the proceedings of the House during the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, in New Delhi, on Wednesday, June 26. PTI
New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) Taking a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the BJP on Wednesday claimed that members of the key constituents of the opposition INDIA bloc did not join his party’s protest in the Lok Sabha against a resolution brought by Speaker Om Birla on the imposition of Emergency by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975.
Shortly after his election as the Lok Sabha Speaker, Birla read out a resolution in the Lower House condemning the imposition of Emergency and termed the decision by then prime minister Indira Gandhi an attack on the Constitution.
The Speaker’s reference to the Emergency also saw a face-off between the government and the opposition in the first session of the Lower House.
"As soon as the Speaker brought the resolution on Emergency, the Congress members began shouting, rising from their seats and rushed towards the Well of the House (in protest)," BJP national spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra told a press conference at the party headquarters here.
Amid this, Rahul Gandhi, sitting in his seat, appeared to be "in a dilemma as to what to do and what not” as the members of the Samajwadi Party (SP), DMK and TMC did not join his party’s protest, he claimed.
"When the Speaker asked for observing silence in the memory of those who suffered during the Emergency, the Congress members were protesting near the Well and creating uproar while the members of the SP, DMK and TMC were standing peacefully rising from their seats. Seeing them, Rahul Gandhi also had to eventually rise from his seat," Patra claimed.
"Remember the time when Indira Gandhi had hunger for power. The Congress had imposed Emergency to satisfy its hunger for power. And the same hunger of Rahul Gandhi and his family for power is shaking the INDI alliance today," the BJP leader alleged.
"Rahul Gandhi knows that his grandmother (Indira gandhi), his family had made a mistake. But he is only concerned about gaining power," he added.
Patra thanked the TMC, DMK and "all other members" of the Lok Sabha for being sensitive and observing silence in the memory of those who lost their lives and also those suffered during the period of Emergency. PTI