New Delhi: In the backdrop of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s debate dare to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Saturday proposed that the two have an “uninterrupted, direct question-and-answer” exchange in Parliament on key issues.
Sibal also questioned Home Minister Amit Shah for his change in stance from his remarks in Parliament in December last year that a debate on the SIR of electoral rolls cannot take place in the two Houses to his comments on Thursday that the government is open to convening a special session of Parliament to discuss the SIR.
“The home minister made a peculiar statement in Parliament regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). When the opposition requested a parliamentary debate on SIR, the home minister asked why Parliament should discuss it, claiming it is strictly an Election Commission matter with which the government has nothing to do,” Sibal told a press conference.
“Yet recently, he stated that if Rahul Gandhi wants a debate, he should write to the Prime Minister to convene a special session. Why this sudden change of stance? If you are now willing to call a session, does that mean SIR is indeed your responsibility,” he asked.
As a member of Parliament, Sibal said he has a suggestion of letting the prime minister sit across from the Leader of the Opposition, with no other members speaking or interrupting.
“Let the Prime Minister question the Leader of the Opposition, and let the Leader of the Opposition question the Prime Minister, allowing the exchange to proceed as long as necessary. For the first time in 12 years, this would give the Prime Minister an opportunity to answer questions – a historic precedent, as nowhere in world history has a head of government avoided answering questions in the House for 12 years,” he said.
“I am asking the Home Minister: What was your position on the floor of the House when the opposition demanded a debate on SIR? You told the country that the government has no role in it because it is an Election Commission matter. Why the sudden change of heart now?
“We know how parliamentary debates are managed – mics are muted, opposition leaders are interrupted, and voices are suppressed. If the government wants to debate SIR, let the Home Minister first confess on record that the government is responsible for it,” he said.
Let the Prime Minister come to the floor for an “uninterrupted, direct question-and-answer” exchange with the Leader of the Opposition on key issues, he said.
Let this debate be another historic event, Sibal said.
Gandhi has been repeatedly daring Modi to debate with him openly. The former Congress president has “guaranteed” that it would be proven in five minutes that the prime minister was a traitor.
The BJP leaders have scoffed at Gandhi’s challenge. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that while Gandhi is asking the prime minister to choose the venue for a debate, there already exists one in Parliament and reminded him that he happens to be the LoP in the Lok Sabha and needs to show some seriousness and responsibility.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gandhi had challenged Modi to an open debate on his charge that the “opposition is anti-national” and asked why the prime minister has not filed a defamation case against him over his “foreign connections” allegation.
He had accused Modi of occupying the prime minister’s chair with “foreign help”, within a day of his earlier challenge for an open debate with the prime minister for accusing the opposition of taking foreign help to destabilise the country.
