'Democracy under attack': Opposition parties take out Tricolour March from Parliament House to Vijay Chowk

The Opposition leaders also boycotted the customary tea hosted by the Speaker after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die

Opposition on Thursday marked the culmination of the Budget Session with a ‘tiranga march’, a message of unity to fight the “murder of democracy” by the BJP that “favours” Adani Group and support for Rahul Gandhi on his disqualification from Lok Sabha.

Opposition leaders in Parliament said their party leadership would soon decide on taking forward unity among the Opposition to the grassroots and the leadership question while emphasising that all efforts to divide them have fallen flat.

Congress got support from the entire Opposition on Rahul with DMK saying that a “jittery” BJP wants “Rahul’s head” because of Bharat Jodo Yatra’s success while AAP said the ruling party may allow discussions on Adani’s “servants like the Prime Minister and ministers” but “not on the master”.

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Addressing a joint press conference after the march by MPs holding 'tricolour' from Parliament to Vijay Chowk, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the ruling BJP disrupted the Parliament to divert attention from the Opposition's demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue and to "make one person rich". That was why demand for Rahul’s apology and later disqualification in “lightning” speed happened, he said.

Asked whether the DMK endorsed Rahul as the prime challenger to Modi, its Lok Sabha floor leader TR Baalu said the main reason for the disruptions in Parliament was the success of Rahul’s yatra and that Congress would have united front. He said Congress would soon have a meeting of Opposition party chiefs and they would decide on the next course of action.

BRS’ K Keshava Rao said one is witnessing how Opposition unity is being evolved and that they were working on how they are going to come together. “Why are you always obsessed with the leadership issue? The country will surely be led by a person. There is a combination of ideologies and programmes and whatever we are trying to do is to have such a programme and that we are on same page,” he said.

AAP's Sanjay Singh said Modi was acting like Adani's Prime Minister and that was why he did not allow Parliament to run. "The message behind Rahul's disqualification is very clear. You can raise allegations against the Prime Minister or any minister. You can have discussions on Adani's servants. But you cannot have a debate on the master," he said.

Kharge said, “The budget of Rs 50-lakh crore was passed in just 12 minutes, but they (BJP) always allege that the opposition has no interest. The disturbance was created by the ruling party. Whenever we made a demand, we were not allowed to speak.”

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“Why are you fearing from setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe even when the BJP will have its say as it will have majority members...Something is fishy, that is why the government is not agreeing to order a JPC probe into the Adani issue,” he said.

The Opposition had been raising the demand for a JPC on Adani affair from the first leg of Budget Session in February and the Opposition protests gathered more steam with Trinamool Congress joining the grouping after Rahul’s disqualification in “lightning” speed after his conviction in a defamation case in March.

The last few days saw Opposition MPs attending proceedings by wearing black clothes or with black masks to protest against the BJP government.