With the second half of the budget session beginning on Monday, March 9, Congress on Friday demanded a full-fledged short-term discussion on the situation in the Middle East following the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the subsequent killing of the regime’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last weekend.
The Congress, the country’s main opposition party, said a suo motu statement by the government would not suffice.
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The Budget Session of Parliament began with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on 28 January. The first phase of the budget hearing continued until February 13 and the second phase will take place from March 9 to April 2. There will be 30 sessions during the session.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told PTI that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government today is “shriveled and weakened” while India’s global standing has never been “as weak as it is now”.
‘Googlies roll in from Washington’
Ramesh said the government was playing “second fiddle” to India not only to the US but also to Israel. Using a cricket analogy, the Congress said the Modi government has been on a sticky wicket for a long time as “googlies are bowled from Washington“.
“The second phase of the budget talks starts on March 9 and is scheduled to last until April 2. So it is a 25-day period, but the number of sessions is actually only 17 because there are a lot of important festivals and holidays during this period. The subsidy bill, the finance bill will have to be discussed. We will also discuss the functioning of these four or five ministries. So the schedule is set,” he said.
However, there are very many important issues, the India-US trade agreement, the continued blackmail by the United States in terms of India’s oil purchases from Russia, targeted assassinations of the supreme leader in Iran and a large number of political and military leaders and the ongoing West Asian conflict that has spread to other parts of West Asia, he said.
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“There have been attacks by the US and Israel on Iran and subsequent attacks by Iran on the Gulf countries. There are nearly 10 million Indians working in this region whose lives, livelihoods, safety and security are affected. So this is a very important economic issue. We receive about $50-60 billion in remittances annually from this region, if not a much more pressing matter for Asia. The situation,” Ramesh said.
Referring to a US submarine torpedoing and sinking an Iranian warship in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka, he said it was extraordinary and had never happened before.
Ramesh argued that the government’s suo motu statements are meaningless as no explanations are allowed.
“We want a full-fledged short-term discussion. It should not be a suo motu statement on behalf of the government, because just asking for a statement is pointless, because a minister would come, make a statement and leave. You are not allowed to ask any questions. So we need a full-fledged short-term discussion on the situation in West Asia caused by the US-Israel aggression against Iran and the subsequent attacks by the US Navy in the Persian Gulf against Iran,” Ramesh said.
Earlier this week, Congress Parliamentary Party president Sonia Gandhi demanded that the government’s “disturbing silence” on the breakdown of the international order must be discussed openly and without evasion when Parliament reconvenes for the second part of the budget session.
The Prime Minister is silent on the assassination of Iranian leaders by Israel and the US, on Trump’s claims to stop Operation Sindoor, on the American pressure to reduce oil imports from Russia, he said.
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“So a prime minister who spares no effort to vilify opposition leaders when it comes to President Trump’s actions or Israel’s actions is completely silent. This is not the India the world knows,” Ramesh said.
India’s response to US-Israeli attacks
The US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on February 28, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Following the military offensive, Iran carried out a wave of attacks targeting mainly Israel and US military bases in several Gulf countries, including UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Prime minister Narendra Modi he talked to leaders from all the Muslim nations and Israel, but he didn’t talk to anyone in Iran. However, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday that he had a telephonic conversation with Iranian FM Seyed Abbas Araghchi amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
Modi’s government today is “shrunken and diminished”, with India’s global standing never “as weak as it is now”.
India has expressed condolences over the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Foreign Minister Vikram Misri by signing a condolence book at the Iranian Embassy in Delhi on Thursday.
