Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena today asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to take cognisance of its party patriarch L K Advani’s “tears” and called for a special session to discuss the demonetisation issue.
Terming Advani as the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of Indian politics, the Sena said he has raised a question mark over parliamentary democracy in the country.
“It should be noted that Advani is not a Congress leader. One must bear in mind that he has been at the forefront of the anti-Congress politics,” an editorial in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said.
It recalled that in May 2014, while entering the Parliament building, PM Narendra Modi had knelt and placed his forehead on the green carpeted steps and also shed tears.
“But due to the ‘tamasha’ of parliamentary proceedings in the last two years, the soul of the Parliament (building) has lost and it is shedding tears,” it said.
“Parliament is meant to debate serious issues of concern to people. But the opposition raises questions and creates chaos, while the government runs away from these issues. This is the picture today,” the Sena said.
“People are standing in queues for Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000. However, crores in ‘pink’ (new Rs 2000) notes are being recovered from the houses of the rich.
“If the government is not going to say anything on this, if the PM is not going to respond, then a special session of Parliament should be convened and the RBI Governor should be summoned in Parliament,” the editorial said.
“Nowadays, the Prime Minister sometimes gets emotional. It will be nice if cognisance is taken of the tears shed by Advani on the state of affairs of Lok Sabha and democracy,” it said.
The Sena remarks come after Advani, for the second time during the Winter Session of Parliament, expressed anguish and concern over the way the session was a washout with daily adjournments.
He reportedly even told a few MPs that he felt like resigning from Lok Sabha owing to his distress at the proceedings, adding that “Atalji (former PM Vajpayee) would have been very upset seeing this”.
(With PTI inputs)
