By Sushil Kutty
So after all the “jalsas” to crown chief ministers of three states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, forget Telangana, it is ‘Congressi’ — a probe has been ordered on the Parliament security breach, with the Modi government’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi telling the country, shamed by a bunch of unemployed nondescripts, that things were on course when it’s apparent that nothing about Parliament was or is on course.
Joshi termed it a “high-level probe”. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had initially labelled the attack of not great significance, but he got to thinking and corrected the significance-quotient from ‘Yellow’, the colour of the canister-gas sprayed in the Lok Sabha, to ‘Orange”, which the BJP knows denotes ‘desperate’.
Meantime, in a case similar to shutting the stable doors after the horses had bolted, security has been boosted inside and outside Parliament. Things have been lackadaisical ever since the BJP took charge of India in 2014 and Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. India has always been prone to “reaction” with Modi at the helm, whether it was “Uri”, “Pathankot” or “Pulwama”.
Apparently, this policy suits the Modi regime as it gives the BJP opportunity to reiterate and remind Indians that “Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai” after every few months. A Congress leader called the Parliament security breach “another Pulwama” and he was being imaginative. Normally, Congress leaders aren’t and not many from the hoi polloi took notice.
The INDI-Alliance should ask itself “Why?” And the opposition MPs shouldn’t halt the protests. The demand for a statement from the Union Home Minister should be the Holy Grail for the Opposition. Home Minister Amit Shah shouldn’t be allowed to forget that holding the BJP’s fort at propaganda-heavy media conclaves, which keep intruding in current affairs, isn’t parliamentary by any stretch of the imagination.
The Opposition also asked for a discussion on the breach in both Houses even as it charged the treasury with trying to “suppress its voice”. Pralhad Joshi didn’t take the bait. After years of managing Parliament, Joshi knows all the tricks of trade that MPs use. “Come and debate,” he invited, and that isn’t “suppressing voice”. Pralhad Joshi will line up a dozen bills to discuss and nothing will be heard or spoken about the Parliament security breach.
Unfortunately, for the Opposition, none of the “breachers” wore saffron, ever. On the contrary, these are people who are distinctly “green” — their involvements restricted to the farmers agitation, the CAA protests and the “wrestlers” uprising — all giveaways to their ideological affiliations.
That said, “Parliament” is the Achilles heel of the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Things have been “parliamentarily wrong” for both government and party ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi made histrionics part of the BJP’s parliamentary proceedings, right from moving with bag and baggage to the New Parliament Building along with the ‘Sengol’ to what turned out to be an elaborate initiation ceremony with the Prime Minister flat on his belly.
Parliament is not going anywhere. This is the Winter Session and the ruling party is on the back-foot. The Opposition needs an issue to beat the government with. Joshi will keep talking of “important bills”, but the Opposition shouldn’t miss the woods for the tree. The focus should remain “Parliament security breach” come rain or shine. Posters and videos of Lucknow’s Sagar Sharma jumping Lok Sabha benches should flood the streets. Make him a modern-day Bhagat Singh. Sagar’s diary is a veritable treasure trove of good, clean, honest-to-good rebellion against “tanashahi”.
Home Minister Amit Shah will be loath to make a statement. The ruling dispensation will instead raise its own smokescreen. Also, what will the BJP gain from a discussion in the House? Except one-liners and chest-thumping. Even otherwise, the Lok Sabha Speaker is the ‘Boss’ of Parliament and not the Home Minister. The only line of attack is to politicize the issue and not be shy about it. At least journalists will get a story to tell, write and take to town with. (IPA Service)
The post The So-Called ‘High Level Probe’ Assured By Minister Pralhad Joshi Is Nothing But A Hoax first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.
