PM Narendra Modi to Hold Day-long Fast on April 12 Over Parliament Disruption

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding a day-long fast with BJP lawmakers on Thursday to protest against the recent washout of Parliament , which he blamed on the opposition parties.

The development comes a day after Congress chiefRahul Gandhi led a similar protest against the BJP-led government at the Centre to promote peace and communal harmony.

BJP president Amit Shah will also be holding a similar protest in West Bengal’s Hubli.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said that the idea of the fast was mooted by the PM. He said that it is a way to communicate to the entire country that the BJP is aware of the suffering imposed on them by the logjam in the Parliament. “This is why all NDA MPs had also decided to forego their salaries for 23 days of the budget session of the Parliament,” he added.

This year’s Budget session has been the worst when it comes to productivity in the last eight years and the BJP has tried to put the blame on Congress for stopping deliberation in both Houses.

The Congress had stopped important bills from being passed, which led to a “criminal wastage” of the taxpayer’s money, parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar had told reporters.

The BJP’s announcement of a fast comes just a day after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi led his party on a nationwide fast targeting the Modi government over the washout of the Parliament session and a host of other issues, including the alleged caste and communal violence.

On Wednesday, a day before the fast, PM Modi will address all MPs through video conferencing as they hold “Samata Diwas” in their respective constituencies on the occasion of Jyotiba Phule birth anniversary.

With opposition parties targeting the government over Dalit protests, PM Modi also said BJP MPs and other leaders will spend a night between April 14 and May 5 in over 20,844 villages with over 50 per cent population of scheduled castes and tribes to inform the masses about the Centre’s various measures aimed at their welfare.