Will PM speak in Parliament on China issue, asks Congress

Speaking to reporters, Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said that the government had so far not said a word on when this subject would come for a debate in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.

The government should give a clarification on the India-China border issue, the Congress said on Monday, the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.

Speaking to reporters, Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said that the government had so far not said a word on when this subject would come for a debate in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had been questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence. “Will the Prime Minister speak on this issue? These are clarifications, we did not want debate, but, at least a clarification should be given on day one as the entire country is watching,” Mr. Gogoi said.

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The party, meanwhile, has upped ante on the three agriculture ordinances. Over the last two days, both chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh have spoken out on the subject. The issue was raised again in the Lok Sabha on Monday. “These three legislations will give freedom to corporates to brutally exploit the farmers and take away the protection that the Minimum Support Price and the various State Mandi Acts give them,” Mr. Gogoi said.

The party also once again objected to the way Question Hour had been suspended and Zero Hour, when Parliamentarians can raise issues of national importance, had been curtailed. “This is nothing but an attack on the dignity of the Indian Parliament, curbing the rights of legislatures and taking away the accountability the Government of India has towards the people of India,” he said.

The Centre had only consented to written answers, but written answers were written by officers and bureaucrats. The people of India had not elected bureaucrats; they elected the Prime Minister and his council of Ministers, he said.