Raising public issues in Parliament not drama, not allowing discussion is: Priyanka

Congress general-secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday sharply rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accusation that the Opposition engages in “drama” in Parliament, countering that the only theatricality on display was the government’s refusal to permit meaningful democratic discussion.

“What is Parliament for?” she asked. “Raising issues that concern the public is not drama. The drama is in not allowing discussion.”

Modi, speaking ahead of the winter session, had declared that Parliament should be a space “for delivery, not drama” — a remark several Opposition leaders described as particularly ironic, given the prime minister’s own flair for dramatic speeches, emotional pauses, walkouts and choreographed interventions inside the House, often delivered in place of substantive engagement or question-taking.

Priyanka Gandhi demanded debates on two urgent matters: the capital’s worsening air pollution and the Centre’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. She said the SIR process had triggered public concern over transparency and the potential exclusion of genuine voters, making parliamentary scrutiny indispensable.

On pollution, she called Delhi’s hazardous air quality “shameful”, warning of the long-term health consequences. Citing a study that found 22 lakh children have suffered permanent lung damage due to toxic air, she said: “How can we sit here and do nothing while children, the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses struggle to breathe?”

Her remarks were echoed — and amplified — across the Opposition spectrum. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien said Modi’s comments were an attempt to delegitimise dissent and pre-empt uncomfortable questions.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi argued that the government was redefining parliamentary accountability as disruption merely to avoid scrutiny. DMK MPs added that the prime minister was trivialising serious concerns about unemployment, inflation and environmental collapse under the guise of maintaining order.

TMC national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee was even more blunt, calling Modi’s statement “rich coming from a man who has turned Parliament into a monologue stage”. He accused the government of bulldozing legislation without debate, suspending MPs to silence critics, and relying on spectacle rather than answers.

“If anyone has reduced Parliament to theatre, it is the prime minister himself,” Banerjee said, pointing to Modi’s frequent, made-for-camera interventions and his avoidance of direct parliamentary questioning.

Priyanka Gandhi reinforced that sentiment, saying the Opposition was asking for discussion, not confrontation. “The public deserves a Parliament that addresses their problems, not one where serious issues are dismissed as theatrics,” she said.

Modi, however, insisted that earlier disruptions indicated the Opposition was using Parliament as a “warm-up arena for elections” or as an “outlet for frustration after defeat”. Opposition parties counter that the real frustration lies in the government’s persistent stonewalling of debate — a spectacle they argue is far more theatrical than anything they are accused of.

With PTI inputs