The Week in Parliament
CPI(M) Parliamentary Office
OPPOSITION MPs protested the Election Commission’s voter list revision in Bihar. Parliament began a debate on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, on August 4, following a week of disruption.
In the Rajya Sabha, Bikashranjan Bhattacharyya from the CPI(M) criticised the Modi government for exploiting incidents like Pulwama and Pahalgam – both occurring before elections. He questioned whether such attacks happened or were made to happen and said measures like the surgical strike, demonetisation, and abrogation of Article 370 had failed to curb terrorism. He warned against conflating Islam with terrorism, and highlighted Muslim men’s bravery during the Pahalgam incident, and condemned the BJP’s Hindutva-driven propaganda. “Why no news of Muslim individuals was propagated, who have saved several lives during the said attack, without bothering of their own,” he questioned. Bhattacharyya said neighbours like Bhutan and Maldives refused to back India internationally, exposing the government’s Islamophobia.
In the Lok Sabha, S Venkatesan, from the CPI(M) called the Pahalgam attack a shameful security lapse, with failures by the Army, CRPF, and J&K police. He criticised the prime minister for returning from Saudi Arabia only to attend an election rally in Bihar instead of visiting Pahalgam. He said, “The nation is continuously witnessing that you have only ‘election’ in your hearts.”
He pointed out how the BJP government’s actions led to isolation of India diplomatically, citing its inability to stop IMF loans to Pakistan. He also referred to the non-committal stances of the Government of India on Palestine and Iran, deviating from the earlier foreign policy stands.
Venkatesan said that the defence minister, in his speech, had not once mentioned Colonel Sophia Quereshi or the ill-treatment she had faced, nor had he condemned the remarks made about her by BJP MP Vijay Shah. He pointed out that a horseman named Adil Shah had sacrificed his life to save tourists during the Pahalgam attack, yet the minister had made no reference to his bravery. He asked why this was so, adding that there were hundreds and thousands of Adil Shahs in the Kashmir Valley, and that the people of Kashmir had repeatedly demonstrated their unity. He expressed pain that, in the name of fighting terrorism, the government was aggravating communal divisions. He emphasised that the message from India was loud and clear: this was a country that could not be disintegrated or made to harbour hatred, and he declared with confidence that “we will definitely win over you.”
In the Rajya Sabha, John Brittas from the CPI(M) called Pahalgam attack as one of the India’s biggest security failures.
He argued that disputes should be resolved through diplomatic and political channels rather than war, and criticised the prime minister for avoiding any mention of Donald Trump’s derogatory remarks about India. He exposed the jingoism surrounding Operation Sindoor, and questioned the media’s exaggerated claims of “conquering” Pakistani cities, and condemned the hate campaigns targeting victims’ families and officials. He said India’s isolation in the neighbourhood was worsened by domestic actions such as bulldozer politics and attacks on minorities, which damaged the country’s foreign policy and global image. Citing false accusations against nuns in Chhattisgarh and rising attacks on Christians and Muslims, he held the BJP responsible for violence against them.
