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Umesh Patel, Independent MP from Daman and Diu, protested Parliament’s Monsoon Session disruptions, demanding accountability and salary deductions for MPs over wasted public money.
Umesh Patel accused both the ruling party and the opposition of letting down people’s expectations. (X)
Umesh Patel, Independent MP from Daman and Diu, protested on Thursday, the last day of the Parliament’s Monsoon Session, over frequent disruptions and low productivity of the House.
Holding a banner that read, “Ruling and opposition parties must apologise,” Patel demanded accountability for what he called a “washed-out” session. He further demanded that the enormous cost of running Parliament, which has been “wasted” amid repeated disruptions, should be recovered from the salaries of the MPs, India Today reported.
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“When the House does not function, ruling and opposition parties must apologise to 144 crore people for wasting the nation’s money,” the banner read.
He said that when the House did not function, then why should the public pay for the expenses incurred by it?
Patel accused both the ruling party and the opposition of letting down people’s expectations.
“The ruling party and the opposition did whatever they wanted, and they stabbed hopes and expectations of 144 crore people in this temple of democracy. There were so many important bills some passed with little to no debate. Income Tax bill was 600 pages but there wasn’t even a 6-minute discussion on it. You saw yesterday and today how the session was over in 30 seconds Neither of them were in mood for the session,” he said as quoted by India Today.
Monsoon Session Ruckus
The Monsoon Session of the Parliament, which concluded on Thursday, saw frequent disruptions that overshadowed legislative business, with the House losing over 84 hours to forced adjournments, the highest in the 18th Lok Sabha. The month-long session that started on July 21 had 21 sittings with 37 hours and 7 minutes of effective business, according to the Lok Sabha secretariat.
All through the Monsoon session, the INDIA bloc continued their protests against Bihar SIR, inside and outside Parliament, accusing the ECI of “vote theft”. Barring discussions on Operation Sindoor in both the Houses, the session has seen little business due to repeated disruptions and adjournments initially due to opposition demand for discussion on Operation Sindoor and then over demands for a discussion on SIR.
Leaders who vocally criticised the exercise were Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, AAP MP Sanjay Singh.
The government ruled it out on the grounds that the administrative work of a constitutional body like the Election Commission cannot be discussed in Parliament. The only agenda item that was conducted smoothly was a two-day discussion on Operation Sindoor in both Houses.
Meanwhile, 12 bills were passed by the Lok Sabha and 15 by the Rajya Sabha during the month-long Monsoon session.
(With inputs from agencies)
About the Author
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben…Read More
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben… Read More
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