Opposition should apologise to nation for their behaviour in Parliament: Govt
New Delhi: Putting the blame on the Opposition for unruly scenes witnessed during the monsoon session of Parliament, a group of union ministers on Thursday said Rajya Sabha Chairman must take the strongest possible action against those who broke the rules.
Addressing a joint press conference here, they also accused the opposition leaders of manhandling marshals, while Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Opposition's approach of "my way or highway is highly condemnable" and the country also condemns such attitude.
Goyal, also Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, said the group of ministers met Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the House and made an earnest appeal that the strongest possible action should be taken against the opposition MPs for their deplorable behavior and manhandling marshals.
He said the Opposition was unable to digest the fact that the country has given up on them and their behaviour in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday was a new low of the parliamentary democracy.
The Secretary General's table in Rajya Sabha is not meant for dancing and protesting, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said at the press conference, referring to an incident when an opposition leader was seen above a table inside the upper house of Parliament.
"We demand that Rajya Sabha Chairman should take stringent action against those opposition MPs who broke rules," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said.
He alleged that it was pre-decided by Congress and its friendly allies that they would not allow Parliament to function. Thakur alleged that "anarchy from streets to Parliament" was the Opposition's only agenda during the monsoon session.
He said the Opposition should apologize to the nation for what happened in Parliament during the monsoon session.
Earlier in the day, a group of union ministers, including Pralhad Joshi Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, called on Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu at his official residence here.
Separately, a group of opposition leaders also met Naidu and complained against the alleged heckling of MPs including some women.
The ministers, on the other hand, are believed to have complained against the alleged unruly behaviour of some opposition members in the House on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Naidu broke down over the huge ruckus in the House and equated the act of some opposition MPs to "sacrilege in the temple of democracy".
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was also likely to meet Vice President Naidu in the evening.
The tumultuous Monsoon session of Parliament was on Wednesday curtailed by two days.
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.
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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.
