No Parliament session for 60 per cent of country, voice of people crushed: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi: Leaders of several opposition parties on Thursday marched in protest against the government on several issues, including Pegasus, farm laws and alleged manhandling of their MPs in Rajya Sabha, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying the voice of people was crushed in Parliament and democracy was "murdered".
Top leaders of several opposition parties met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and then walked in protest from Parliament House to Vijay Chowk.
Those who attended the meeting included Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Kharge, Sanjay Raut, Tiruchi Siva, Manoj Jha and other opposition leaders.
They met Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and complained against the alleged heckling of MPs including some women.
Some union ministers also met Naidu and complained against the alleged unruly behaviour of some opposition members in the House on Wednesday.
The protest comes a day after the passage of bills in Rajya Sabha amid charges of manhandling of opposition leaders including some women MPs.
The protesting MPs carried placards and banners against the government that read 'Stop murder of democracy' and 'we demand Repeal of anti farmers laws'.
"The Parliament session is over. Frankly, as far as 60 percent of the country is concerned, there has been no Parliament session because the voice of 60 percent of this country has been crushed, humiliated and yesterday in the Rajya Sabha (the MPs were) physically beaten," Gandhi charged.
He said the opposition was not allowed to speak inside Parliament and "this is nothing short of murder of democracy".
The former Congress chief said the opposition raised the issue of Pegasus, farmers' issues and price rise but were not allowed to speak inside Parliament.
"This is nothing short of the murder of democracy in this country," he alleged.
Gandhi also trained his guns on the prime minister, accusing him of "selling the country to big businessmen".
"For the first time in Rajya Sabha MPs were beaten up, after bringing people from outside," he alleged and added that "It is the Chairman's and Speaker's responsibility to run the House".
"Who is stopping the opposition in the House. I will tell you, India's prime minister is doing the work of selling this country. He is selling the soul of India to two-three industrialists and that is why the opposition is not allowed to speak inside Parliament," Gandhi alleged.
Echoing Gandhi, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut alleged that no Parliament session was held as the opposition was not allowed to raise issues of public importance.
"The way people were brought and deployed as marshals in Rajya Sabha. I felt like marshal law was imposed and I felt like I was standing at Pakistan border as I was stopped from going inside," Raut said.
Tiruchi Siva said one has never witnessed such behaviour in Parliament in more than two decades.
Praful Patel said his leader Sharad Pawar has stated that he has never seen such shameful incidents in Parliament in his long political career.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had termed as "totally false" the opposition's allegations that marshals manhandled their MPs and said one can check facts from CCTV footage.
The tumultuous Monsoon session of Parliament was on Wednesday curtailed by two days even as an anguished Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu broke down over the huge ruckus in the House equating the act of some opposition MPs to "sacrilege in temple of democracy" and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla saying he was "extremely hurt" by continuous disruptions.
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EC demands extra security as unrest grips Bangladesh afresh
Dhaka (PTI): The Election Commission (EC) has demanded extra security for its chief, other commissioners and officials as fresh unrest visibly gripped Bangladesh after gunmen shot an upcoming parliamentary polls candidate and frontline leader of last year's violent street movement dubbed 'July Uprising'.
"The EC has written to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) urging comprehensive security arrangements for the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Election Commissioners (ECs), senior officials of the Election Commission Secretariat," the state-run BSS news agency reported on late Saturday.
The EC simultaneously sought the extra security for its field-level offices ahead of the 13th national election, as two of them came under attack in southeastern Lakshmipur and southwestern Pirojpur by unidentified miscreants after the announcement of the schedule for the upcoming polls on Thursday.
The commission demanded an additional escort vehicle for the CEC, while one such police escort with a vehicle was currently in place for him. It asked for round-the-clock police escorts for the four commissioners and the senior secretary.
The letter said the enhanced security measures were "urgent and necessary," while EC officials said their 10 regional offices, 64 district election offices and 522 sub-district level offices would store important documents and election materials.
The EC on Thursday said the upcoming parliamentary election would be held on February 12 next year, while a day later, Sharif Osman Hadi was shot from a close range in the head, critically wounding him, as he initiated his election campaign from a constituency in the capital.
Critically ill former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) simultaneously asked Muhammad Yunus' government to provide security for all candidates in the upcoming election after the attack on Hadi, who leads a radical right-wing cultural group called Inquiab Mancha.
"We demand that the real culprit be identified immediately and brought under the law, and we call upon this government to ensure the security of all candidates without delay," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.
Hadi was also a frontline leader of last year's student-led violent uprising that toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024.
His Inquilab Mancha was also at the forefront of a campaign to disband the Awami League, which the interim government complied with in May this year, disqualifying the party from contesting the polls.
The government on Saturday ordered a nationwide security clampdown called 'Operation Devil Hunt 2' amid escalated fears over the law and order situation and promised to issue firearms licenses for election candidates for their own security.
Home adviser (retd) Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the government had taken steps to ensure special security for the "frontline fighters" of the July Uprising and promised to issue firearms licenses for the election candidates.
He emphasised that the second phase of the 'Devil Hunt' was aimed at helping ensure public safety and combat the growing threat of illegal arms.
The operation was initially launched in February this year following protests over an attack on the private house of a former minister of the ousted government in the northern suburb of the capital, when it targeted alleged "henchmen" and supporters of the now disbanded Awami League.
