Amid the continuing deadlock in Parliament, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said the Opposition had remained consistent with its demands from the beginning and was not changing its position.
Kharge said the Opposition’s key demand was that Union Home Minister Amit Shah make a statement in Parliament on the alleged police action against protesting students. “We are not changing our goalpost. Our position has remained consistent from the very beginning,” Kharge told reporters at the Parliament House complex.
According to Kharge, the Opposition has three specific demands.
The first relates to the alleged lathi-charge and firing on students. The Opposition wants to know who ordered the action and how it took place, and has demanded a statement on the matter in the House.
“We want to know who issued the orders and how it happened; we want a statement in the House regarding this,” Kharge said.
Kharge also referred to reports of students being injured and hospitalised following the alleged police action. “Many students fell ill or were hospitalised; over 100 suffered minor injuries, and many were wounded by pellet guns. We want a statement on this matter as well,” he said. Pointing to the time that has passed since the issue was raised, Kharge said, “It has been 18 days, and there is no willingness to provide a statement.”
He accused the government of attempting to make only a brief statement on the matter and move on. “They are merely trying to make a quick statement and move on; that is their intention,” Kharge said.
He said the Opposition’s other demands include the alleged “Chanda Chori” (donation theft) issue and an apology.
“These three issues have been raised from the beginning, remain relevant now, and will continue to persist until they are resolved,” the Congress president said.
On the ongoing students’ protest in Jharkhand, Kharge described it as a separate issue.
“That is a separate issue. There are hundreds of issues. Are they discussed separately? Do we bring up every single issue on the very same day?” he asked.
Kharge’s remarks came a day after he and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference and blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for the continuing logjam in Parliament.
The Congress has maintained that its three demands are “non-negotiable”, including clarity from Shah on whether he ordered firing on protesting students, and statements and an apology from the Prime Minister over the other issues.
