New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday said the opposition’s demand for at least two days of parliamentary debate on issues like the Pahalgam attack, Operation Sindoor, US President Donald Trump’s claims and China is “non-negotiable”.
In an interview with PTI ahead of the Monsoon session starting Monday, he also asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must respond to all these issues on the floor of the House.
The Congress general secretary in-charge communications said the INDIA bloc is united and its prominent leaders will hold deliberations online on Saturday and going forward meet in Delhi later on.
Ramesh said the INDIA bloc’s demand for a discussion in Parliament on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar is also “non-negotiable”.
“We must have at least two full days of debate and discussion on the Pahalgam terror attack. The terrorists have still not been brought to justice. There have been very significant revelations about Operation Sindoor, first by (CDS) General Chauhan, then by Group Captain Shivkumar, and thirdly by Lt Gen Rahul Singh.
“Three very senior, respected, experienced defence personnel have made very significant statements on Operation Sindoor. So, that is the reason why we want a discussion,” Ramesh said.
He said it is the government’s job to find a middle path and create a consensus in Parliament.
“I have never seen in the last 11 years that a middle path has been found. Here it is either my way or the highway approach that reflects the mindset of the PM,” Ramesh said.
He pointed out that three days after the Kargil war ended, the Kargil Review Committee, chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s father K Subrahmanyam, was set up which later submitted its report to Parliament with reactions.
“This is the history of previous governments. Now five years have passed since we had a discussion on China and the PM gave clean chit to that country after what happened in Galwan when China disturbed the status quo which had prevailed for almost 30 years.
“So, Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor, the role of China in Pakistan Air Force operation, the 23 times same claims being made in 66 days that President Trump stopped Operation Sindoor and used trade as a carrot and stick for India and Pakistan, all this must be discussed,” he said.
So, this is the first set of issues that the Congress parties and the INDIA group would certainly like discussed at least for two days, he said, adding that in his view it will require at least 3-4 days of discussion.
“Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor, role of China, President Trump’s repeated claims and what about the future, how do we build a consensus, how do we build a collective response to the challenge we face particularly from China (all this must be discussed),” Ramesh said.
Make in India is dependent on Made in China, Ramesh added.
The prime minister must be present and reply on the floor of the House, he said and asserted that all these are “non-negotiable” demands.
There is other “non-negotiable” issue as far as the INDIA group is concerned, that is the “mischievous, diabolical, dangerous, votebandi that has been started in Bihar to disenfranchise Dalits, minorities, tribals, migrant workers, he said.
After the prime minister’s notebandi of November 8, 2016, Ramesh alleged that the PM is now orchestrating a “votebandi”.
“This is part of a ploy to rig the Bihar elections and the Election Commission has announced that Bihar is only the beginning, we will do it in other states. Certainly, the Election Commission, which is a constitutional body, is functioning as a department of the BJP,” he said.
Ramesh further alleged that the purpose of the special revision is to snatch the voting rights of the people.
“We are not saying this. Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa and former Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat have said this… This is a conspiracy. This is being done deliberately. This is a well-planned strategy of our Prime Minister and Home Minister,” he alleged.
On INDIA bloc’s online meeting on Saturday, Ramesh said all the prominent leaders of the bloc will attend the meeting.
“On Saturday, people were not able to come to Delhi due to different programmes, so an online meeting has been called. It has been decided that before the Parliament, we will have an online meeting, after that we will meet in Delhi also,” Ramesh said.
The heads of these parties will be in this meeting and later floor leaders in both Houses will keep meeting, he said.
He asserted that the INDIA bloc is absolutely united.
“The question that should be asked is why the president of the BJP after J P Nadda has not been named till now…The BJP people needs to worry about what is happening in the BJP, what is happening between the BJP and the RSS,” Ramesh said.
He also pointed out that Leaders of Opposition in both Houses — Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi — jointly wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, urging the government to bring a legislation in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament to grant full statehood to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“It has never happened in political history that a full state is made a Union territory. The leaders of the opposition have written a letter and demanded that the bill should be brought in this session itself, a law should also be brought to include Ladakh in the Sixth Schedule,” he said.
