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Congress MP Ujjwal Raman Singh on Thursday defended Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's remarks on the alleged use of pellet guns during the July 20 student protest, saying that the BJP and the government have an opportunity to respond to the allegations instead of evading the issue.
Speaking to ANI, Singh said, "...If one has to apologize in this country for speaking the truth, then a very strange situation will arise." He further said that the government should respond to the allegations instead of avoiding the issue. "If allegations are being made, there is an opportunity to respond, yet the BJP and those in the current government are trying to evade the issue. This is condemnable," Singh said. Questioning the alleged use of force against students, he said, "Is the fact that pellet guns were used on students being denied? There must be someone responsible for the children against whom tear gas shells were fired and where AK-47s were used." Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's remarks, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP ET Mohammed Basheer said the government had not responded properly to the issues raised by the Opposition in Parliament. "We are saying all these things in the Parliament. It was raised even after that also, it is said, but they are not responding properly. So they have to say a satisfactory reply," Basheer said. He said the Opposition would decide its next course of action if the government failed to give a satisfactory response. "Otherwise, the mode of action we will decide. We will have to fight it and up to what extent, which style of agitation, all these things will be decided in accordance with the decision we are going to take in the leaders' meeting now," he said. Meanwhile, Revolutionary Socialist Party (India) (RSP) MP N K Premachandran criticised the government over the passage of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, alleging that the amendments moved by the Opposition were not considered and that the legislation was passed amid the din. "Those amendments were not taken for consideration and unilaterally they've bulldozed the bill and finally they've got it passed in the din. That is not a good practice when, after all this national debate regarding the subject has come to light," Premachandran said. He accused the government of handling the issue in a "callous way" and alleged that Rahul Gandhi's remarks were misinterpreted and deliberately used to provoke the Opposition. "The government is taking the issue in a very callous way, the issue is being taken in a very callous way, and what Rahul Gandhi said yesterday was being misinterpreted, misquoted and they deliberately provoked the opposition to not to have a fruitful discussion in the house," he said. "That is the reason why yesterday the house was disturbed. Today we will plan what the floor strategy will be decided in today's floor leaders' meeting," he added. (ANI)
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