Govt didn't allow Oppn to pay tribute to Rawat: Kharge
New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has on Thursday alleged that the government did not allow opposition leaders to pay tributes to the late CDS General Bipin Rawat and others who died in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Addressing media outside the Parliament, Kharge said that after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh finished his statement, he, along with other leaders, requested the Chair to allow them to pay tribute, but the Chair did not allow.
"I as the leader of the Opposition and floor leaders of other parties wanted to pay tributes…We asked for two minutes but were not allotted," Kharge said. "What kind of democracy is being run in the country?" We (Opposition) condemn this. To pay our respect to the late CDS, army officers, jawans who died in the crash we even called off our dharna today," he said.
"It is unfortunate that we were not allowed to pay homage to the martyrs. We condemn that the Chair did not allow us. We can differ on political issues and we are fine with that. But here a person has died. 11 senior officers have died but we were not allowed to pay our tributes. I will pray may the government get wisdom and may the family members get the strength to tolerate the pain," he said.
The request from the Opposition leaders for paying tribute to the deceased was turned down by deputy chairperson Harivansh Narayan Singh, who was in the chair, by saying that the defence minister has spoken and condolences have been offered collectively.
However, as Opposition leaders pressed the chair to allow them to speak, members of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) walked out of the House in protest.
Speaking outside the House, TMC lawmaker Sushmita Dev said, "The suspended MPs observed a minute's silence as the nation is in mourning, and today is not the day to protest. In Parliament, there was no disruption. All that we wanted was that every party should be given a chance to condole the deaths and express solidarity so that the right message goes out. But we were bulldozed and we chose to walk out in protest against yet another move to suppress us."
Meanwhile, Opposition parties on Thursday suspended for a day their dharna at Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Parliament complex against the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs in view of the death Gen and 12 others in the chopper crash.
"We decided to suspend our protest in front of the Gandhi statue for a day in view of the tragic incident in Tamil Nadu and in honour of Gen Bipin Rawat and his wife and 11 other soldiers who lost their lives," Kharge told reporters.
RJD's Manoj Jha said the opposition leaders decided not to sit on the dharna and wanted to convey their condolences. He said the government could have utilised this opportunity to convey a collective message on such an unfortunate incident.
