The Evening Wrap: Opposition protests in Parliament

The Hindu Newsletter - Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Wednesday 23, September 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap [Here are the biggest news stories of the day]( [alt_text]( Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Opposition parties hold series of protests in Parliament Opposition parties held three rounds of protests in Parliament on the last day of the monsoon session. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad met President Ramnath Kovind and urged him not to give his assent to the three farm Bills passed in Parliament. At noon on Wednesday, over 75 Rajya Sabha MPs belonging to the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), DMK, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), CPI, CPI-M, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Samajwadi Party and the NCP [took out a silent protest march from the Gandhi statue to the Ambedkar statue](, both located within the Parliament complex. A few hours later, another bunch of lawmakers from the TRS and the TMC held a short dharna. In the evening, MPs from the Lok Sabha MPs took out another march. The Opposition parties also held two rounds of meetings to chalk out a strategy to continue the campaign against the three farms Bills. The parties had sent a common memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to return the bills on the grounds that their passage in the Rajya Sabha was flawed. This petition is expected to form the basis for further legal action. Sources said the Opposition parties were divided on whether to move Supreme Court on the subject. After meeting with President Kovind, Azad told reporters that it is wrong to blame the Opposition for the pandemonium witnessed on Sunday in the upper House. “We can’t be held responsible for what happened. The government is to be blamed. They should have gone with the consensus,” he said, referring to demands from 18 parties to not extend the time of Rajya Sabha beyond 1:00 pm. Leaders slam passage of Bills without discussion A day after Rajya Sabha passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and six other bills, Opposition leaders criticised the government for rushing through legislations in a near empty house without due discussions. Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O’ Brien said the monsoon session of Parliament was a “sham”, with no discussions on any of the important issues, while senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the amendment to the Essential Commodities law, which would only help hoarders and black-marketers, was passed in an empty house. Ramesh, who is also the chief whip of the party in the Rajya Sabha, said the amendments to the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, are highly centralising and will erode the constitutional rights of States. Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh summoned in drug nexus case Actors [Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh have been summoned]( by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a stunning twist to the drugs probe linked to the Sushant Singh Rajput investigation. They have all been asked to appear in the next three days. [Deepika Padukone. File]Deepika Padukone. File These are the most high-profile names to come up in a widening probe into allegations of drug use linked to the film industry. Padukone has been summoned on Friday and Rakul Preet tomorrow. Ali Khan and Kapoor will be questioned on Saturday, and fashion designer Simone Khambatta will also be questioned tomorrow, officials said. No coercive steps intended against Facebook, says Delhi Assembly The [Delhi Legislative Assembly clarified in the Supreme Court]( today that “no coercive steps” were intended against Ajit Mohan, vice-president and managing director of Facebook India, when he was summoned to appear before its Committee of Peace and Harmony as a ‘witness’ in connection with allegations linked to the Delhi riots. “The person was only called as a witness. No coercion was intended. We wanted to get some safeguard suggestions from Facebook. We wanted to find out how Facebook was misused and did not say Facebook misused,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Assembly, submitted in court. Justice S.K. Kaul, heading a three-judge Bench, pointed out that there is a disparity between what Singhvi is submitting in court about the nature of the summons, and what is actually said in them. In their petition, Mohan and Facebook, represented by senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, respectively, accused the Assembly of threatening him with “breach of privilege” if he did not appear before the Committee and testify. They said the Committee had no authority to compel him to testify. Rohatgi argued that the Delhi Assembly panel had predetermined that Facebook colluded in the Delhi riots. Mohan had been summoned to appear before the Committee on September 23. After Singhvi told the court that the Committee has deferred the meeting, the court asked the Assembly to not fix any further meeting with the Facebook official for now since it is seized of the case. Issuing notice, the court asked Singhvi to file its counter, putting the clarifications on record. The next hearing of the matter has been scheduled for October 15. Government issues notice to Sudarshan TV The Union government on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that [a show cause notice has been issued to Sudarshan TV]( under the Cable TV Network Act against the content of its programme, ‘Bindas Bol’, which accuses Muslims of “infiltrating” the civil services with the help of funding from terror-linked organisations abroad. On September 15, a three-judge Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had stayed further telecast of the programme episodes. Four episodes had been telecast by the time the court issued the injunction. [Sudarshan News Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke. Photo: Facebook/@SureshChavhankeOfficial ]Sudarshan News Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke. Photo: Facebook/@SureshChavhankeOfficial “Had the court not intervened, the programme would have been over by now,” Justice Chandrachud told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who informed the court about the notice issued to the Hindi channel on September 23. Mehta said the court’s intervention is usually seen as a last resort. The court agreed to the law officer’s submission to defer further hearings in the case. The channel has been given time till September 28 to respond to the show cause notice. Meanwhile, the September 15 injunction on the telecast of the programme would continue. The Bench is examining various questions, including the point beyond which free speech in the media breaches the dignity of a community. The court is also examining the larger aspect of strengthening the self-regulatory mechanism for electronic media. It had observed that the manner of portrayal of the Muslim community in ‘Bindas Bol’ was “plainly hurtful”. Saudi Arabia bans flights to and from India Saudi Arabia has [banned flights to and from India]( from Tuesday amid a surge in coronavirus cases. In a circular issued on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said it was “suspending travel to and from the following countries: (India, Brazil and Argentina) including any person who has been in any of the mentioned countries above in the last 14 days prior to their arrival to the Kingdom.” However, it excluded “passengers who have official government invitations.” The GACA circular, titled ‘Suspension of travel to countries where the Covid-19 virus has outbreak’, was marked to all the airlines and chartered flight companies operating in Saudi Arabia’s airports. Saudi Arabia and the UAE host a significant Indian migrant population. Peasant rights activist Akhil Gogoi’s group to form political party Jailed peasant rights activist Akhil Gogoi’s group Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) is [expected to form a political party]( by the end of September after consultations with 70 other groups that had protested together against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The move follows the launch of the regional Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP), two major students’ organisations in the State. “We have asked all our associate organisations to nominate a representative for a coordination committee by September 25. Members of this committee are expected to meet within the next two days to draw up the plan for the political party,” KMSS president Bhasco de Saikia told The Hindu on Wednesday. Saikia said the regional parties in Assam should have ideally joined hands to take on the BJP in the 2021 Assembly polls. The AJP did not respond to an appeal by the KMSS to respond to their unity appeal by September 20. “We haven’t given up hope for a united front. Regional forces contesting the polls separately will only help the BJP,” he said. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported [coronavirus cases]( from India stood at 57,16,409 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 91,060. [Railway Protection Force personnel who have recovered from COVID-19 are welcomed back to work at Central Railway Station in Chennai on September 23, 2020. ]Railway Protection Force personnel who have recovered from COVID-19 are welcomed back to work at Central Railway Station in Chennai on September 23, 2020. Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who tested positive for coronavirus last week, has been admitted to the city’s Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Hospital after complaints of fever and breathing difficulties. He had been under self-isolation at his official residence since testing positive for Covid-19 on September 14. In Brief Suresh Angadi, the Union Minister of State for Railways and BJP MP from Belgavi, Karnataka, passed away today. He had been admitted to AIIMS, Delhi after testing positive for Covid-19. He is the second MP to have succumbed to the coronavirus, after Congress MP H Vasanthakumar, who passed away last month. In the offset contract relating to the ₹60,000 crore deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets from France, the vendors Dassault Aviation and MBDA have till date “not confirmed” the transfer of technology in the technical assistance to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the development of the engine (Kaveri) for the Light Combat Aircraft, the Comptroller and Auditor general (CAG) said in a report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. An indigenously developed laser-guided anti-tank guided missile was [successfully test-fired by the DRDO]( at a firing range in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar, officials said on Wednesday. The weapon, having a range of up to 4 km, is likely to significantly enhance the fire-power capability of the Indian Army, particularly along the frontiers with Pakistan and China, officials said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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