The Hindu : Mumbai echo in Lok Sabha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 31, 2003

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National

Mumbai echo in Lok Sabha

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 30. The Mumbai blast generated considerable heat in the Lok Sabha, with Congress and Shiv Sena members accusing each other of making political capital out of the incident.

The issue came up as soon as the House met this morning with the Shiv Sena MPs demanding a discussion and a statement from the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. The Congress MPs insisted that priority be given to their adjournment motion notice on Arunachal Pradesh and soon a slanging match ensued.

Chandrakant Khaire and Mohan Rawle (Shiv Sena) accused the Congress of being insensitive to the fact that members of a particular community were the victims of the attack. They accused the Congress-led Government of being ``soft on terrorists'' and demanded that it be sacked. This provoked the Opposition MPs, who were on their feet protesting. Vilas Muthemwar (Cong.) charged the Shiv Sena with adopting double standards. ``Did you ask for the Prime Minister's resignation when Parliament was attacked?'' he asked.

Even the long adjournment failed to cool tempers and both sides started from where they had left. Prakash Pranjapye and Mr. Khaire again raised the issue when the House met after lunch. Mr. Paranjapye, in particular, charged the Congress with turning a ``deaf ear'' to the woes of the majority community. Mr. Rawle said that law and order had broken down in the State and demanded that a Central team be sent there.

The Sena MPs found vocal support from their BJP colleague, V.K. Malhotra, who joined them in demanding a detailed statement from Mr. L.K. Advani. Having made their point, the Sena MPs started raising slogans demanding the State Government's dismissal, which only seemed to infuriate the Congress Benches.

Shivraj Patil and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (Congress) charged the Shiv Sena with calling for a bandh to disturb the law and order situation in Mumbai.

The Sena MPs continued to demand a reply by Mr. Advani and, eventually, the matter came to a close after the Deputy Speaker, P.M. Sayeed, requested the Sena MPs to raise the issue at a later date after giving proper notice.

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