The party stated that the government was "scared to face" Parliament and that is why "avoiding" it
A row broke out between the Congress and the government on Tuesday over the issue of a possibly truncated Winter Session next month, with the Opposition party accusing the government of "bludgeoning" institutions and democracy, and seeking to silence them with the reminder of Emergency.
"The truth does not go away because you hide from it. Modi ji, stop hiding and open the Parliament so the truth of what you did on Rafale can be heard by the nation," Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
The AICC fielded four senior leaders, including Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Leader of House in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, saying it wanted to highlight issues such as Amit Jay Shah's model of development and the Rafale scam. The party stated that the government was "scared to face" Parliament and that is why "avoiding" it.
Congress' Anand Sharma said that in the last one century, the session has never been shelved in this manner. Dismissing the attack, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the party was suffering from "selective amnesia", arguing that such decisions have been taken in the past.
He also made it clear that the Winter Session will be held in December and the dates will be announced soon.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who briefed the reporters at the BJP headquarters, ridiculed the Congress statement that the Modi government was working under its 'triple B' model — bypass, bulldoze, and betray institutions. He said he was surprised to see Congress' newfound love towards the Parliament as its leader Rahul Gandhi's attendance in the Parliament was just 43 per cent in the last Lok Sabha and 53 per cent in this Lok Sabha.
Prasad was in particularly critical of Kharge's remarks that PM Narendra Modi was the "Brahma, the creator", who controlled everything and alone knew when the Winter Session will be convened.
"In the Indian tradition, there is a concept of the destroyer along with the creator. Who is the destroyer? Who destroyed India's democratic tradition. Congress did," Prasad quipped, reminding the Opposition of the Emergency days.
Kharge had said the PM did not want a Parliament session ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, as he feared that the BJP will be exposed when the Congress discusses GST, demonetization, employment issue, and corruption charges.Meanwhile, Azad questioned the PM's frequent visits to the election-bound states in choppers, the expenses for which were not included in poll expenditure. He said when the rule was made to exempt the PM, nobody thought that there will be a PM who will remain in a campaign mode throughout.
"This government has become an election machine. No PM campaigned like him, even for the municipal polls. This kind of expense on the PM's trips during elections is in itself a scam. Not only the PM, but now the entire Cabinet is camping in Gujarat, like it was camping in UP some time ago. We want a government that governs and is not just an election machinery," he said.
Countering the charge, Prasad lambasted the Congress for raising questions regarding the PM's use of official defence choppers for campaigning. "When Indira Gandhi used defence choppers and planes for 16 years to campaign in elections, it was fine. When Rajiv Gandhi did the same for five years, it was fine. When Manmohan Singh did it for 10 years, it was right. And when Narsimha Rao used IAF planes and choppers for electioneering, it was right. But when Narendra Modi is doing it, it is wrong. What is this?" rued the I-T and law minister of India.
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