NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, claimed on Friday that the government had silenced the voices of the people in their constituencies by suspending almost 150 opposition MPs from Parliament. The Congress leader cornered the Centre over “unemployment” while speaking at the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc protest here at Jantar Mantar against the mass suspension of opposition MPs. He claimed that earlier this month, the two young people who were unemployed and carrying smoke canisters jumped into the Lok Sabha. “We all witnessed two to three young people jump into the Parliament House a few days ago, and they proceeded inside to spread smoke.” Each and every BJP MP fled. Initially, how did those individuals enter the Parliament building? They carried petrol cylinders inside. They could have brought anything if they could have brought that. The reason behind their protest is the second query. This was caused by unemployment. The nation is experiencing extreme unemployment. Today’s youth in this nation cannot find work,” he declared. On the anniversary of the terror attack on Parliament in 2001, there was a security breach. During Zero Hour, two individuals, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D, leaped from the public gallery into the Lok Sabha chamber, unleashed yellow gas from canisters and yelled anti-establishment slogans before being overpowered by the MPs.The security lapse case, which has dominated national political discourse ever since, resulted in the suspension of 146 Members of Parliament from the Winter Session of Parliament, which has been adjourned sine die, for causing a disturbance and interfering with the work of both Houses. Union Minister Amit Shah was being pressed by opposition lawmakers for a statement regarding the incident involving the breach of Parliament’s security. The Congress leader continued by saying that a survey found that young people use social media apps for 7.30 hours every day. Rahul stated that in order to determine how many hours a day the nation’s youth spend using their phones or social media, he hired surveyors to carry out a brief survey.“After the survey, I was shocked to learn that youth spend 7.30 hours a day on social media apps,” said Gandhi. In response to the mimicry controversy in the Rajya Sabha involving Jagdeep Dhankhar, he stated that Rahul Gandhi was filming the act and that the media didn’t question the suspension of nearly 150 MPs. “The media claims that Rahul Gandhi recorded the video (of mimicry) while MPs were seated outside the Parliament. “Why and how 150 MPs were suspended is a question the media did not ask,” he said. “These 150 individuals represent the voice of the Indian people; they are more than just individual people.You have not offended 150 people; rather, you have silenced 60% of India’s population. Each member of parliament contributes lakhs of votes,” he continued. Shashi Tharoor, a different Congress MP, stated that the demonstration at Jantar Mantar, which was organised under the banner “Save Democracy,” was intended to convey to the public that the current state of affairs is “wrong for the future of the country.”
