After BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla accused opposition MPs of eating non-veg food in front of the Gandhi statue in the parliament compound, TMC leader Sushmita Dev called it a lie, and hit back at BJP and RSS by saying BJP-RSS leaders eat everything behind closed doors. She called it propaganda by the ruling party.
Earlier, several media reports had said that during a 50-hour protest against several Rajya Sabha MPs, the protesting opposition MPs had a feast that included tandoori chicken and other delicacies. Shehzad Poonawalla had made the comments quoting such media reports, but the TMC leader has denied the allegations.
It's a lie. Leaders & ministers of the Govt have become disreputed due to inflation. They don't have an answer, hence this propaganda. People & ministers of RSS eat everything behind closed doors. So, don't make a comment on our food: TMC MP Sushmita Dev, one of the suspended MPs pic.twitter.com/8jK3ewnSV2
— ANI (@ANI) July 28, 2022
Saying that ‘it is a lie’, Sushmita Dev said that leaders and ministers of the govt have no answer to inflation, therefore they are doing propaganda. “People and ministers of RSS eat everything behind closed doors. So, don’t make a comment on our food,” the politician from Assam said.
She added that BJP leaders can’t tolerate the fact other MPs were bringing food for the protesting MPs, and they are scared of this solidarity. “We know what BJP-RSS says outside and eats in private,” said Sushmita Dev, who is among the Rajya Sabha MPs who have been suspended from the house for a week.
On Tuesday, as many as 19 opposition MPs were suspended for the week from Rajya Sabha for repeatedly disrupting proceedings. The MPs were protesting in the well in the house, ignoring the appeals of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh. Following this, parliamentary affairs minister of state V Muraleedharan had moved a motion to suspend the MPs for their “misconduct” and “utter disregard to the House and authority of the chair”. The motion was passed by a voice vote.
The 19 suspended MPs include 7 from TMC, 6 from DMK, 3 from TRS, two CPM and one CPI. Earlier on Monday, three Congress MPs were suspended for the rest of the monsoon season, and three more MPs were suspended today.
After the suspension on Monday, the opposition parties started a protest on the parliament premises. They started a 50-hour-long protest yesterday, and many of them spent the night in front of the Gandhi statue. The protesting Rajya Sabha members are demanding revocation of the suspension order and discussion on price rise.
And as per media reports, this protest turned into a feast last night, as a wide variety of food was brought for the protesting MPs. However, what triggered controversy was the reports that the ‘feast’ also included Tandoori chicken, as it was held in front of the Gandhi statue, and MK Gandhi was a staunch supporter of vegetarian food.
A PTI report carried out by a large number of report houses said that the feast featured a variety of food from curd rice and idli-sambhar to tandoori chicken, ‘gajar ka halwa’ and fruits. Reportedly, different political parties took the responsibility of various meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner, and different cuisine were served during those meals.
The PTI report states that the details of the menu were shared on a WhatsApp group, where the duty roster for the protests is being shared by the opposition parties. The parties arranged regional cuisines for the same.
According to the report, the idli-sambhar was served for breakfast, and curd rice was served for lunch on Wednesday, both arranged by DMK. The dinner last night arranged by TMC included roti, daal, paneer and chicken tandoori. There were also snacks in between meals, like Gajar ka Halwa brought by DMK’s Kanimozhi, while TMC brought fruits and sandwiches.
On Thursday, the DMK was in charge of breakfast, TRS for lunch and AAP is arranging dinner.
Opposition MPs are taking turns to sit for a few hours to complete the 50-hour protest. Even the parties whose members have not been suspended are participating, showing opposition solidarity.
