Opposition running away from discussion on Operation Sindoor, now putting precondition: Rijiju
Kiren Rijiju said if all are all prepared to hold a discussion of 'Operation Sindoor', why are Congress and opposition parties trying to run away from this discussion?
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday accused the opposition of "betrayal" by not allowing the scheduled debate in the Lok Sabha on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that a few minutes before the discussion was to start, the Opposition wanted the government to give an assurance that it will allow a debate on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar after the discussion of Operation Sindoor is over.
The opposition, he said, is running away from a discussion on Operation Sindoor after initial agreement and is now putting preconditions.
Rijiju said Parliament runs in accordance with rules and accused the opposition of going back on its commitment and betraying everyone. "The opposition is looking at ways to run away from the debate on Operation Sindoor," he said.
Lok Sabha was on Monday supposed to hold a special discussion on India's ‘Operation Sindoor’ that was carried out in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam, after a weeklong virtual washout of Parliament proceedings.
Rajnath to address Lok Sabha on Operation Sindoor
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs S Jaishankar were likely to participate in the 16-hour debate that is expected to stretch over three days as an aggressive opposition would seek to corner the government over US President Donald Trump's claims that he mediated to avert a nuclear war between India and Pakistan and got them to agree on a ceasefire.
Lok Sabha adjourned amid protest from Opposition
Earlier in the day, the Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 1 PM due to noisy protests by opposition parties demanding a discussion on the voter roll revision exercise in Bihar.
The House could not function properly even for a single day last week, ever since the Monsoon session began on July 21, due to repeated adjournments following opposition protests over the demand for a discussion on Operation Sindoor and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar initiated by the Election Commission.
As soon as the House met at 11 am, opposition members were on their feet, and some of them even came to the Well of the House shouting slogans and showing placards.
Initially Speaker Om Birla ignored the protests and continued the business by allowing Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to reply to a question during the designation time of Question Hour.
India has made it clear that the cessation of firing and military activity targeted at Pakistan was paused after "direct contact" between the directors general of military operations (DGMOs) of both nations, at the instance of Islamabad.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has listed a "special discussion on India’s strong, successful and decisive 'Operation Sindoor' in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam" in its agenda for Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to intervene in the discussion. Special discussions, which have been held occasionally in the past on topics like the Constitution to mark the 75th year of its adoption, are not guided by any particular rule of the House.
Rajya Sabha to take up debate on Operation Sindoor on Tuesday
The Rajya Sabha will take up the debate on Operation Sindoor on Tuesday. Members of Parliament, who were part of the multi-party delegations that took India's message of zero tolerance to terrorism to 33 world capitals are also expected to participate in the discussion in both the Houses of Parliament.
The first week of the Monsoon session of Parliament was rather a tumultuous one with the surprise resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as vice president, hours after he had kicked off a row by referring in the Rajya Sabha an opposition-sponsored notice on the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma.
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