TMC leader gives speech from Parliament corridor

New Delhi: Having been unable to speak in the Rajya Sabha on the Delhi riots till now, Trinamul Congress MP Derek O’ Brien on Friday found a novel way to be heard by giving a 10-minute speech from the Parliament corridors instead of the House to protest the government’s “reluctance” to discuss the spate of violence in the national capital.

Despite massive protests from the Opposition in both Houses of Parliament demanding immediate discussion on the riots in which more than 50 people said to have died, the government has stuck to its guns and has announced that any such discussion would be held only after Holi.

Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu has already announced March 12 as the date for the discussion in the Upper House. Mr O’Brien, who is the leader of his party in Rajya Sabha, said that Opposition parties have given notices five days in a row to discuss the issue, but these have not been accepted.

Accusing the government of stalling work in both the Houses, he said: “I have been ready with the speech on behalf of the TMC. Mr Chairman sir what can I do, the government is stalling Parliament. Today on Friday, I need to make my speech and I am making it not in the chamber downstairs but on the first floor. We have to look at different ways to have our voices heard. So here I am.”

He said that the last time a notice of an opposition member to discuss issues was accepted was in November 2016. “What does an opposition member do in desperate times like this? I am not going to wait. I hope this speech goes out to the young people of India. I want to ask where is the prime minister. It took him 69 hours after the genocide to respond, that too on Twitter. We are making a laughing stock of ourselves,” he added.

The TMC MP also uploaded a video of his speech on social media in which he spoke about different stories of pain and loss during the violence in northeast Delhi.