New Delhi: On a day when Union home minister Amit Shah alleged that the opposition decided to “boycott” discussions on the new criminal justice Bills in the parliament, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge shot off a letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar saying that despite multiple efforts by the opposition to “engage in meaningful discussion” on various issues like the security breach in the parliament, none of the opposition leaders were “permitted to speak” in the House. Kharge said that the opposition MPs used all the existing provisions in the parliamentary rules to seek discussions but failed. “…I would like to state that as a committed opposition, we firmly believe in fostering dialogue and discussion, which are fundamental pillars of any parliamentary democracy,” Kharge said in the letter. “I would like to bring to your attention that multiple notices were submitted under the relevant rules of the Rules and Procedure of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to address the pressing issue of the breach of Parliament security. The Opposition parties were prepared to engage in a meaningful discussion on the matter. Regrettably, these notices were neither admitted, nor was I, as the Leader of the Opposition parties, permitted to speak on the floor of the House even for a minute or two,” he added. Kharge’s letter came a day after the Rajya Sabha chairman wrote to him over disruptions and acrimony in the parliament. Dhankar had alleged that Kharge had refused to meet him to resolve the political stalemate in the House. He said that the opposition MPs by “making a demand to the Chair” that could not be acceded was a way to render the House dysfunctional, and was “unfortunate and against the public interest.”Kharge’s letter also coincided with Shah’s statement at an event on Thursday. “As a legislator, I was piloting the Bill in Parliament. I wanted the opposition to present its views and suggestions on the Bills. But, unfortunately, they decided to boycott the discussion by making excuses,” Shah said. The home minister also said when the new criminal justice bills were being discussed, the “opposition was busy mimicking the vice-president outside the House.” “There cannot be a more condemnable action than this,” he added. However, Shah didn’t make it clear that a majority of the opposition MPs had already been suspended when the criminal justice bills were tabled, which had made it impossible for most opposition MPs to participate in the discussions. Many critics have already pointed out that important Bills like the new criminal justice bills and the Telecommunications Bill 2023 were passed without any discussions in parliament. The Union government’s reluctance to issue an official statement on the security breach, even as both the Prime Minister and home minister have been speaking about the episode on public platforms, has also been questioned by many observers. Amidst mass suspensions of opposition MPs, the opposition MPs have been demanding that Shah should make an official statement in the parliament about the security breach. Until now, 146 MPs have already been suspended from both Houses after the BJP, which enjoys a brute majority, demanded their suspension. The last few sessions have been witness to the fact that none of the demands or requests put forward by the opposition parties was accommodated by the union government or the chairs of the Houses. Kharge went on to say that the opposition parties merely wanted a discussion on the security breach but the requests were “unequivocally ignored”, despite the fact that the matter “was of grave concern to the Parliament, Parliamentarians” and “is also a significant national security issue.” “Despite these challenges, I want to reiterate my commitment to open discussion and dialogue,” he told Dhankar, while seeking an appointment with him to discuss these issues. Kharge said that he hoped that as the Chair of the Rajya Sabha, he hoped that Dhankar would “accommodate the concerns of the opposition at all times.”“The government will have its way, but the Opposition must, you will readily agree, have its say. I have no doubt that you will uphold this basic principle of parliamentary democracy in letter and spirit,” Kharge said.