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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday lashed out at the opposition for disrupting parliamentary proceedings during the discussion on the Gurdaspur terror attack and sought an explanation from Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the contradictory statements made by her party leaders over the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon.
Jaitley squarely blamed the Congress for presenting India as a divided house instead of standing together in wake of the recent cross border attack in Gurdaspur.
"The terrorist cross border attack at Gurdaspur is a very serious incident, because, a major cross border attack has reoccurred in this country after a significant period of time. And, therefore, it was extremely important for India's Parliament to discuss this," Jaitley told the media here.
"On a day like today, where the whole country should have spoken in one voice and stood together, we didn't expect the Congress Party to present India as a divided house. Regrettably, instead of allowing the discussion and asking for clarifications, the Congress Party chose to disturb the proceedings in the Parliament on account of its own small and petty interests. It has prevented a discussion in Parliament and prevented the people of India from knowing how their political leaders in Parliament react to these incidents," he added.
Jaitley further said a couple of irresponsible statements, which had come from some of the Congress leaders with regard to the punishment given to the principal accused of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, Yakub Memon, also is a cause for concern.
"Mainstream national parties are expected to react in a responsible manner. They are not expected to show the country as a divided house. But the Congress Party's leadership has failed the test," Jaitley pointed out.
"We, therefore, expect the Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to clarify before the whole country as to why the party is not permitting a discussion in India's Parliament of the issue of national security, particularly in the wake of the Gurdaspur incident and to explain how its leaders some of them have come out with contrarian statements with regard to the punishment given by the judicial process in the 1993 Mumbai blast case," he added.
Jaitley's statement came after the opposition disrupted the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha while Home Minister Rajnath Singh was reading out his statement on the issue of terrorism in the wake of Monday's terror attack in Gurdaspur.
The House has since been adjourned till tomorrow.
