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Delhi Police’s elaborate arrangements cut short opposition parties’ march towards the ED office
A resolute Delhi Police cut short opposition parties’ ‘long march’ from Parliament to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) office over the Adani controversy.
After its failure to cross Vijay Chowk, the main opposition party, Congress, cried foul, alleging dictatorship by the central government.
Over 100 Members of Parliament, belonging to 18 opposition parties, took part in the yatra. They were stopped at Vijay Chowk, where Delhi Police had made adequate arrangements by barricading the entire area to stop the MPs.
“We wanted to march towards the ED office to submit our memorandum over the Adani issue. But the government did not allow us to cross the Vijay Chowk and we were stopped,” Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge later said.
Hitting out at the government, Kharge said that there was a scam involving over lakh crore of rupees and that LIC and banks have faced huge losses. “A man who started his career with ₹1,650 crores has now expanded his wealth to ₹13 lakh crore,” the Congress president said.
He argued that the people used to keep their money in banks and the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), but they have lost trust in it as they have given the money to a private businessman.
Kharge said that was the reason the opposition MPs wanted an inquiry. “These are all things we wanted to put in writing. We wanted to share our memorandum with ED and that was the reason why we wanted to meet the ED director,” he said.
“There were over 200 people and there were 2000 police personnel deployed as they wanted to suppress our voice. If the democracy is not functioning properly and if someone raises the issue in a seminar or at any university, then we are called anti-national,” Kharge said.
“We are protesting peacefully, and we are not pushing or shoving anyone and we should have been allowed to go to the ED so that they could do further inquiry and the scam would be exposed,” the octogenarian leader said.
After being stopped by the Delhi police, the opposition MPs returned to Parliament. They said that they would raise the issue inside the House.
“We will go back to Parliament and raise the issue to meet the ED director. Now, we will go all alone later to submit our complaint and if the ED doesn’t take our complaint, then they will be exposed,” Congress Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain said.
The opposition has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani controversy and has been stalling proceedings in Parliament over their demand.
The Parliament has witnessed several adjournments over the opposition’s demand for JPC.
