The all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday on the situation in India-China border landed in a controversy with the government not extending an invite to RJD, AAP, JD(S) and some others left them fuming, with some MPs protested in Parliament House while some others shot off angry letters.
Parties like RJD, AAP and AIMIM accused the government of playing politics on an issue of national sovereignty and not taking everyone together.
Sources said the government had set a criteria to invite only parties with five or more MPs in Parliament for the digital meet, where the Prime Minister will brief the top leaders of parties and hear their views on the way ahead, in a repeat of what it did during a similar meeting on Covid-19 situation in April.
However, RJD with five MPs did not get an invite despite having the requisite numbers while parties like CPI with three MPs attended the meeting. There are 27 parties in Parliament, which have less than five members, while 17 have more than five or more MPs.
A fuming RJD MPs held a protest near Gandhi Statue in Parliament in the afternoon while its senior MP Manoj K Jha shot off a letter to Modi, saying the "blatant nature of this exclusion will be a matter of record" as several parties with lesser numbers of MPs were invited to the meeting.
Top RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had on Thursday night tweeted that his party would like to know the criteria for inviting political parties for the meeting and the grounds for inclusion or exclusion.
AAP's Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Singh also raised the issue, saying parties with lesser numbers have been invited while ignoring three-time “elected” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. AAP has four MPs and is one of the prominent Opposition parties in Punjab.
While JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda did not talk about invitation, he issued a statement urging the government to ensure the “nationalist rhetoric” is toned down and it should not encourage reactionary language of economic boycott, whose "implications are deep".
Sources said the government reached out to parties like TDP, Muslim League and CPI with less than five MPs. However, only CPI with three MPs made it to the meeting with its General Secretary D Raja attending the meeting.
“It is a pity that JD(S), RJD and AAP were not invited. The former PM Shri HD Deve Gowda had some very important points to raise,” CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, who attended the meeting, said.
Excluded from the meeting, AIMIM party chief Asaduddin Owaisi also shot off a letter to Modi saying it was "unfortunate" that his party was not invited at a time when "national consensus and a unified response" is essential". He demanded convening the Parliament to discuss the issue as well as a White Paper, which provides details like how much Indian territory is under Chinese occupation since 2014.
"We have not been invited and the government's bogus argument has been exposed," RJD's Jha told DH.
In his letter to Modi, Jha said RJD is the main opposition party in Bihar, which has a strategic location in the relations with neighbouring countries in South Asia because of the open border with Nepal.
"It is regrettable that electoral victory is being used to exclude a historically important party from having a say in a matter of such crucial national interest. But it is even more regrettable that the Parliament Secretariat is unable to count MPs properly," he said adding that it has five MPs, "which makes us qualify for this strange and arbitrary criteria" set by the government to attend the meeting.
AAP's Singh said, "there is a strange ego-driven government at the centre. AAP has a government in Delhi and is the main opposition in Punjab. We have four MPs. But on a vital subject, AAP's views are not needed? The country is waiting for what the Prime Minister will say at the meeting."
He said the government should have invited all parties and it was condemnable that it felt that there was no need to hear the views of AAP. "Why are doing politics at this critical juncture when the country should remain united? You talk about 'sabke saath, sabka vikas' (With everyone, development for all). But you don't want to take everyone along," he added.
The AAP leader also accused the government of not keeping all facts regarding the situation on the border on the table and hiding things.
Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha tweeted, "it is low level politics not to invite RJD and AAP to the all party meeting on the border clash with China. It is shocking."
"Exclusion of AAP and RJD in all-party meet on a National debate does not augur well. AAP is ruling Delhi and has its CM. Why should people of Delhi be kept out in such an important debate on National integrity and Sovereignty?" former NCP MP Majeed Memon tweeted.
Just before the all-party meeting on COVID-19 situation, Raja had written a letter to Modi demanding that the government should not get into "technicality" and discuss the issue with all parties in Parliament. CPI was not invited to the meeting then.