Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s nine-point letter on the special session of parliament has drawn an acerbic response from the government.
Mrs Gandhi is perhaps “not aware of traditions,” wrote parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, asserting that the government discusses the agenda with the Opposition only after the session begins.
Mrs Gandhi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier today, amid a political uproar over the buzz on a change of the country’s name to Bharat.
Underscoring that no agenda has been announced for the special session of parliament starting September 18, she listed nine subjects and demanded discussion on them.
The list included Centre-state relationship, communalism, Manipur situation and border conflict with China.
With hours, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister responded.
“The session has been called following tradition. Perhaps you are not paying attention to tradition. Before calling the Parliament session, there is never any discussion with political parties, nor are the issues discussed. After the calling of the session by the President and before commencement of the session, there is a meeting of the leaders of all the parties in which the people rising in the Parliament are discussed. Issues and work are discussed.” the minister wrote.
The suspense over the agenda has triggered speculation on the country’s name change. The trigger was President Droupadi Murmu’s invite to G20 leaders where she has been described as “President of Bharat”. The next day, a document surfaced that saw PM Modi being described a “Prime Minister of Bharat”.
Today a post on X went viral that said Pakistan may lay claim to the name “India”.
“Pakistan may lay claim to the name “India” if India derecongnises it officially at UN level. –local media. Nationalists in Pakistan have long argued that Pakistan has rights to the name as it refers to the Indus region in Pakistan,” read the post shared by South Asia Index’s X handle.
Top sources, however, said the G-20 summit, to be held this weekend, will be the subject of the special session.