Black armbands, sloganeering, boycotting front row seats and a protest demonstration near the Gandhi statue on the Parliament premises marked Opposition action, particularly by the Congress, on the first day of the budget session on Friday.
Leaders of 14 Opposition parties wore black armbands during President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament.
Opposition parties, which were registering their protests over Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and roll-out of the National Population Register (NPR), felt it was “shameful” to mention CAA as an achievement.
In a significant move, Opposition parties, notably the Congress and Left parties, are likely to move amendments on the President’s speech, especially on references to CAA.
“The whole country is protesting against the law that has been passed and the law that the government is going to bring. When people have died, thousands have been injured, we are very sad to say that government included it as an achievement in President’s speech. There cannot be anything more shameful than this,” Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha told reporters after the meeting.
Prior to Kovind’s speech, Congress lawmakers from both the Houses, led by its chief Sonia Gandhi, assembled near the Gandhi statue to stage a protest. During Kovind’s address, Congress leaders kept away from their seats in the front rows.
Senior lawmakers of Trinamool Congress (TMC) also staged a protest during the President’s address. TMC leaders held up posters with slogans like “No NPR, No NRC, No CAA,” written in red ink. As the President spoke about CAA, there was a brief disruption caused by sloganeering.
The Congress, along with several other Opposition parties, had boycotted the previous joint sitting on 27 November in protest at what it called the government’s attack on democracy. Congress’s strong posturing at the beginning of the budget session could spell trouble for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as it keen to enact several pieces of legislation in the session.
