New Delhi, 04 August (H.S.):

During the Monsoon Session of Parliament on Tuesday, Members of Parliament from the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and other Opposition parties staged a protest in the Parliament complex over the alleged irregularities in donations made to the Ram Temple. Raising slogans against the Central Government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Opposition demanded accountability over the issue.

The protest was attended by Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party leaders Ram Gopal Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav, and Awadhesh Prasad, RJD MPs Manoj Jha and Sanjay Yadav, Congress leader Syed Naseer Hussain, Karmveer Bauddh, and several other Opposition MPs.

During the demonstration, RJD MP Manoj Jha held a placard that read, The BJP has insulted Lord Ram; when will you speak on the alleged theft of donations? Several MPs also displayed posters bearing the slogan, Chanda Chor, Gaddi Chhod (Donation Thieves, Vacate the Chair). Congress MPs carried a large banner questioning, Why is Amit Shah absent from Parliament?

As a symbolic gesture, Opposition MPs placed a donation box in the Parliament complex, into which several members deposited contributions as a mark of protest. Protesters also raised slogans of Shame, Shame while demanding that the government respond to the alleged irregularities in the Ram Temple offerings.

Meanwhile, commenting on the BJP's defeat in the Datia Assembly by-election in Madhya Pradesh and the Bankipur Assembly by-election in Bihar, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the people of the country have grown weary of the Bharatiya Janata Party and that the by-election results mark the beginning of that shift.

Earlier in the day, the floor leaders of the INDIA alliance held a meeting in Parliament House. The meeting was attended by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and several other senior alliance leaders. The leaders discussed the Opposition's strategy inside Parliament and deliberated on future action regarding various issues to be raised during the ongoing session.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar