NEW DELHI: If the first four days are any indication, monsoon session of Parliament is staring at a washout, with the opposition digging in its heels over its demand for resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, rebuffing invitations from govt for a discussion, reports Subodh Ghildiyal.Amid protests, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha failed to transact business for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday. The stalemate could not be broken despite Speaker Om Birla meeting Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Supriya Sule to defuse the situation. Home minister Amit Shah and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju also met Birla.Opposition MPs took out a ‘candlelight march’ Thursday to the Gandhi Smriti in solidarity with the protesting students, two days after they held a dharna outside the PM’s residence and were forcibly evacuated by police.The MPs belonging to Congress, SP, TMC, Left parties, RJD, Shiv Sena and others met at Rahul Gandhi’s residence. From there, they marched to the Gandhi Smriti holding their phone torches. The marchers included Rahul, K C Venugopal, Ramjilal Suman, Supriya Sule, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, N K Premachandran, John Brittas, Sandosh Kumar, Sudhakar Singh, Misa Bharti, Arvind Sawant, Saugata Roy and Mahua Moitra.Rahul said, “We go to remember the students we lost – the children driven to take their own lives after the NEET paper leak. And we go to stand with the students who lie injured today – beaten for peacefully demanding justice and accountability. India’s students are not alone. The entire opposition stands with them and their demands.”Congress’s P Chidambaram said, “All roads are barricaded, and hundreds of policemen are mobilised to ‘secure’ the roads of Delhi. What is govt afraid of? Why this sense of panic?” Earlier, Congress rubbished PM Modi’s statement assuring the protesting youth. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the students don’t need platitudes after govt used pellet guns, shock batons and tear gas on them.
