R-Day violence: 16 Opposition parties to boycott President’s address in Parliament

Jan. 28: The leaders of 16 opposition parties led by the Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena and the TMC on Thursday said that they will boycott President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to both House of Parliament over farm laws. In the joint statement issued on January 28 the parties announced that they have decided to stay away from the President’s address in both the Houses of the Parliament while reaffirming the collective demand for repeal of the farm laws and in solidarity with the agitating farmers.

The statement says that the farm laws  were brought ‘without any consultations with states and farmer unions and lacked national consensus’. The parliamentary scrutiny was bypassed and the laws were pushed through muzzling the Opposition,” it said.

Announcing the decision, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the 16 Opposition parties also demanded an independent probe into the Centre’s role in the violence that shook the national capital during the farmers’ tractor parade on Republic Day.

The parties that will boycott the president’s address on Friday are the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, National Conference, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Indian Union Muslim League, RSP, Peoples Democratic Party, MDMK, Kerala Congress (M) and the All India United Democratic Front.

The budget session of Parliament is being conducted in two parts. The first phase of the session will begin on January 29 with President’s address and end on February 15. The second phase will be held between March 8 and April 8. The Union budget will be presented in parliament on February 1.