Opposition's Impeachment Event Sparks BJP Attack Over Political Theatre
A fresh war of words has erupted over the opposition's 'People's Impeachment' programme, which the INDIA bloc plans to hold at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence. The Bharatiya Janata Party has dismissed the initiative as political theatre, saying it trivialises a grave constitutional process that is meant to be handled with care.
Sanjay Jaiswal, a BJP MP from Delhi, accused the opposition of disrupting Parliament. “Every time the session begins, these people spend the entire 40 days outside on the roads and do not let Parliament run. Parliament is built together by the government, the opposition and the President in a democracy.”
Jaiswal then turned his attention to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. He said Gandhi does not speak a word inside Parliament as a Leader of Opposition, and that whatever he wishes to say is said at Kharge's residence. In Jaiswal's view, Gandhi avoids the Lok Sabha because any issue raised there would invite a response that leaves him humiliated.
Jaiswal said that legitimate issues should be raised in the Lok Sabha, where they can be debated. Instead, he alleged, the opposition refuses to take part in discussions, keeps the House from functioning for 40 days and boycotts Parliament altogether. When the session is not underway, it holds a 'mock parliament', which he said reveals fear of ruling party MPs and reluctance to confront them on key issues.
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal said the mock parliament openly mocks democracy. He said it has no legal validity and is aimed at keeping political ambitions alive, making it nothing more than political drama.
In Mumbai, Ram Kadam said impeachment cannot be turned into a political show. If the opposition has objections, he said, it should approach the judiciary or give evidence to the Election Commission. He pointed out that elections to 28 Legislative Council seats in four states were held through ballot papers, and Congress won only one.
Kadam argued that electoral defeats should not be blamed on the system, whether it uses EVMs or ballot papers. He recalled that in 1984 the BJP was routed across the country and won only two seats, and that Atal Bihari Vajpayee lost his election, yet the party did not blame the Election Commission or stage impeachment theatrics. He said politics cannot be won through such tactics and that Kharge should present any evidence he has.
BJP spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan, speaking in Patna, said a mockery was being made of the process. He said democracy runs on public accountability and the Constitution runs on constitutional norms, and described the spread of false propaganda as unfortunate.
Paswan cited Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi's statement in Karnataka that SIR was fine, and said the Supreme Court had repeatedly called SIR a constitutional process. He said claims about 13 crore names being removed were false, while the bifurcation revealed 2.8 crore dead voters, over 5 crore people who had changed addresses and more than 2 crore unreliable entries.
Paswan concluded that the campaign was baseless and that the public understood the opposition was concerned mainly with how to capture power rather than with real issues.