New Delhi, (Samajweekly) It was Maharaja vs Raja in Rajya Sabha on Thursday when the erstwhile Maharaja of Gwalior and now BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia and Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, former Raja of Raghogarh, launched no-holds-barred attacks on each other’s parties.
During the discussion on the President’s motion of thanks in the Upper House, first Scindia spoke on behalf of the BJP and criticised the Congress for attacking the government without any reason.
Scindia hailed Prime Minister Modi and said the name and fame of the country were increasing due to his able leadership. Attacking the opposition parties, he said: “If you want to be listened to, then you must cultivate the habit of listening to others as well. Still, opposition parties boycotted the President’s address when the Budget session of Parliament began.”
Congress MP Digvijaya Singh spoke soon after Scindia and attacked the Prime Minister. He alleged that the PM was against the federal structure as he had imposed the lockdown without consulting states and without any prior notice. But he began with congratulating Scindia: “I would like to congratulate honourable Scindia ji. He has put forward the side of the BJP today as brilliantly as he used to put forward the views of the Congress in the past. Congratulations Scindia ji. Waah ji Maharaj.”
“This House is the House of States and I think the Prime Minister is against the federal structure as he did not consult chief ministers and imposed the lockdown. Even countries like Singapore gave eight days prior notice,” Singh further said.
The former two-time chief minister of Madhya Pradesh attacked Scindia for joining the BJP. “He must answer why the Covid threat was overlooked to pull down the MP government?”
Singh said the government was now ignoring the farmers’ protest and questioned why Rajnath Singh, who had been at the forefront of farmers agitations in the past, was not kept in the panel that negotiated with the farmers but Piyush Goyal, who has nothing to do with farmers, was.
Singh added,”Dissent is the essence of democracy and dissenters are being booked in various cases and even denied bail.”
