"BJP government cannot take away our right to speak": Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge during protest at Jantar Mantar
Dec 22, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 22 : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge hit out at the BJP government during the INDIA bloc protest at Jantar Mantar and said that the centre cannot take away the right to speak given by the Constitution.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Under our Constitution, everyone has the right to speak. When we give notice (in Parliament) we are not even given a chance to read the notice. Should I say that the BJP govt is not letting a Dalit speak? You cannot take away our right to speak. This freedom was given to us by Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. You suspend Opposition MPs and pass laws unopposed. We have to fight together."
Mallikarjun Kharge said that the BJP frames the wrong allegation that the opposition is destroying the country.
"They say the opposition is harming democracy. 146 MPs of the opposition were suspended and all the laws were passed unopposed. The three criminal laws passed will bother the citizens. They did the same for farmers and workers. We have to be united. Whenever there is an election our party workers are threatened through the ED, CBI and Income Tax officials. The opposition is not going to be frightened by these raids," he added.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc staged a protest under the banner 'Save Democracy', at Jantar Mantar here on Friday.
Senior opposition leaders, including Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, and others, shared the dais to protest against the recent suspension of 146 opposition MPs from Parliament's Winter Session, which was adjourned sine die on Thursday.
Meanwhile, new record was set up in the new Parliament building in this winter session as three key Bills - Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023; and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023 - were passed which will completely overhaul the country's criminal laws. While 146 MPs were suspended over the ruckus created for demanding a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the Parliament security breach.
