Congress MP Shashi Tharoor made an impassioned speech in Parliament on Wednesday against “communal violence, mob lynching and hooliganism” as a number of parties moved adjournment motions to discuss rising incidents of mob violence.
During Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor sought to make a strong case for his remarks on the BJP turning India into a “Hindu Pakistan” and said his office in Thiruvananthapuram had been attacked by the ruling party.
“The attack on my constituency in Thiruvananthapuram and the death threats that I have received from members of the ruling party are in response to my criticism of the far-right extremism. This is not an attack on the constitutionally-sanctioned MP office but a larger attempt by incendiary elements and their digital equivalents to destroy the idea of India as a pluralistic and accepting democracy,” said Tharoor.
Highlighting the attack on social activist Swami Agnivesh, Tharoor said, “These are people who have expressed dissent against rising intolerance in today’s India and they are being attacked physically. In doing so, those who are doing it are disregarding the singular principle of our historic democratic consensus, which is that in a diverse country like ours we don’t really need to agree all the time so long as you would agree on ground rules of how you will disagree. That’s what we have seen during the no-confidence motion but that is not what we’re seeing on streets, where the ground rules of our democracy are being betrayed by the ruling party.”
‘PM should act’
Asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to act against members of his party accused of these attacks, the Congress MP said: “I strongly urge the PM to break his silence on the behaviour of his partymen and take action against these anti-national elements, anti-Indian elements who seek to abridge the freedom of speech in our country.”
The CPI(M) also issued a detailed statement underlining that attacks on people critical of the BJP have increased despite the Supreme Court warning against such violence: “This attack on Swami Agnivesh happened despite the severe indictment of mob violence by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court observations on mob lynching have held up a mirror to the Prime Minister and the BJP Central Government under whose watch such crimes are being committed and private armies are allowed to rule the roost. The very fact that the culprits, even when identified, go unpunished speaks volumes of the patronisation provided by RSS/BJP to them.”
“Following the Supreme Court verdict, the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that a comprehensive law be enacted in the current session of Parliament to meet the apex court direction: “It is the duty of the State to ensure maintenance of law and order so as to protect secular ethos and prevent mobocracy,” said the Left party.
The Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left parties moved adjournment motions in the Rajya Sabha. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu responded to the notices saying they could be taken up during Zero Hour. Naidu was willing to allow a short duration discussion on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)’s demand to debate the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
“I have received notices on various issues from CM Ramesh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Ram Gopal Yadav, Ashok Siddharth, D Raja, TK Rangarajan and Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe for suspension of the rules. I have decided not to suspend the rules, but as the matters that are mentioned in these notices are important and relevant also, I have decided to convert them into Zero Hour except the notice given by Ramesh. The notice given by Ramesh pertains to an important issue which is agitating a particular State and also the concerned people. That matter had been raised earlier also. But, in spite of that, as the agitation is continuing. I have decided to allow a detailed short duration discussion on this. After consulting the Minister concerned, we will decide the date at the earliest, maybe tomorrow or day after tomorrow,” Naidu said.