After the Rajya Sabha issued a new circular stating that demonstrations, dharnas, fast or religious ceremonies can no longer be held in the precincts of Parliament House, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Friday slamming the order said, "Why not just remove Gandhiji’s statue from the premises? And erase Article 19(1a) of the Constitution.” Article 19(1a) of the Indian Constitution says all citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression.
In another tweet, she also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi days after he unveiled the national emblem on top of the new Parliament building.
Citing the new order in the tweet, she wrote, "Btw Honourable MP Varanasi performed a religious ceremony on top of new Parliament Building just 4 days ago."
Narendra Modi is a MP from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi constituency.
The order was issued by Parliament on Thursday ahead of the Monsoon session. The order by Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, PC Mody read, “Members cannot use the precincts of Parliament House for any demonstration, dharna, strike, fast, or for the purpose of performing any religious ceremony.”
Earlier, AICC General Secretary Jairam Ramesh also took to Twitter to respond to the order. He shared the order and captioned the image as “Vishguru's latest salvo — D(h)arna Mana Hai!”
However, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar said he received a statement from the Speaker that there is no such restriction. "Leaders of all political parties will sit together tomorrow in Delhi and discuss,” said Pawar.
The circular on usage of some terms in Parliament has already drawn flak from the Opposition which insisted that every expression used by them to describe how the BJP was destroying India has now been declared unparliamentary.
A new booklet by the Lok Sabha Secretariat said on Thursday that the use of terms like 'jumlajeevi', 'baal buddhi', 'Covid spreader', 'Snoopgate' and even commonly used words like 'ashamed', 'abused, 'betrayed', 'corrupt', 'drama', 'hypocrisy' and 'incompetent' will henceforth be considered unparliamentary in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
