BJP turned Parliament into Rome’s Colosseum where PM enters ‘like gladiator’ — Moitra

New Delhi, March 22 (PTI): Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday slammed the BJP in Lok Sabha, saying its government has turned Parliament into Rome’s Colosseum where Prime Minister Narendra Modi enters “like a gladiator” to the chants of ‘Modi, Modi’, an apparent reference to the rousing welcome he received from the ruling party members in the House after the victory in four state elections.

Participating in the discussion in Lok Sabha on the demands for grants for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, 2022-23, Moitra also listed the names of women who have etched their names in the annals of Indian civil aviation history, saying they are the ones who “truly deserve” applause.

The firebrand TMC leader cited former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s remarks in Parliament in 1972 when he said, “These days the atmosphere in New Delhi makes one choke. It is not easy to breathe freely. The chanting of a prime minister’s name on All India Radio from morning to night, saturated propaganda on cinema screens, how can people sitting in the Opposition fight this.”

Moitra said, “It is India’s greatest tragedy perhaps that the very party Vajpayee ji led as prime minister, today leads a government that has turned this very same Parliament into the Colosseum in Rome in the 1st century where like a gladiator the honourable prime minister enters to chants of Modi, Modi.”

“And sadly those entrusted with the decorum of this house – the ‘garima’ as they like to put it – smile smugly through it all,” she added.

Her remarks came in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Modi being welcomed by thumping of desks and chanting of his name by the BJP members in Lok Sabha when the budget session resumed and the House met for the first time after the saffron party’s victory in four states.

Moitra said as a woman parliamentarian she would like to “chant some names that truly deserve applause” both in this House and in the annals of the civil aviation history of India.

She went on to list the first Indian woman to get a pilot’s licence Urmila Parekh, first woman commercial pilot Prem Mathur, first woman pilot of Indian airlines Durba Banerjee, the first woman IAF officer to fly in a combat zone Gunjan Saxena, captain of the first Boeing having all-women flight crew Saudamini Deshmukh and youngest pilot in civil aviation history to command a commercial jet aircraft Nivedita Bhasin.