Oppn fails to put up united front against govt on Delhi riots

New Delhi: Congress legislators led by Rahul Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Shashi Tharoor stage a demonstration demanding Union Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation, in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Parliament in New Delhi on March 2, 2020.

New Delhi,  The Opposition on Monday seemed divided over its strident stance against the government over riots in north-east Delhi with the Congress and Trinamool Congress protesting separately.

The Congress protest at Gandhi statue within Parliament was led by Rahul Gandhi. The party MPs carrying placards shouted slogans against the government and demanded Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation.

Party leader Gaurav Gogoi said: “The political and police inaction in Delhi was deliberate. We’ll continue to demand Shah’s resignation.

There was another section of the Opposition, mainly the TMC, which staged a protest prior to the one by the Congress with MPs tying black bands on their eyes. In Kolkata, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “We are sad and depressed and I think whatever happened in Delhi was a planned genocide.”

Apparently sensing the lack of coordination among Opposition ranks, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi tried to further divide the opposition on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Joshi said: “Those who didn’t take action after 3,000 people were killed in 1984 are creating disturbances here; I condemn the attitude.”

Both the Houses of Parliament on Monday witnesses unprecedented ruckus over Delhi riots with Congress MP Ramya Haridas alleging that she was heckled by the BJP MP Jaskaur Meena, who filed counter-complaints with Speaker Om Birla.

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