Parliament Winter Session: Sonia Gandhi leads opposition walkout after being denied discussion on India-China clash

New Delhi: Congress Lok Sabha MPs, led by party leader Sonia Gandhi, and Trinamool Congress lawmakers on Wednesday walked out of the House, accusing the government of not allowing a discussion on the sensitive India-China border issue. As soon as the Question Hour ended, Congress' Leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that a discussion on the "Indo-China border situation be held", saying late Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had allowed a discussion in Lok Sabha on the India-China war in 1962.

"We have been demanding a discussion on India-China border situation. In 1962, when India-China war took place, Jawaharlal Nehru, in this House, had given 165 MPs chance to speak, and a decision was taken on what to do only after that," Mr Chowdhury said.

Responding to the Congress leader's demand, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said a decision will be taken on it in the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee.

As the Speaker went ahead with the proceedings of the House, the Congress, as well as the TMC, staged a walkout in protest and accused the government of not allowing a discussion on the India-China border issue.

TMC member Sudip Bandyopadhyay, also raising the demand for a discussion in the House, said his party members were staging a walkout in protest against the "attitude" of the government.

Earlier in the day, Opposition members had walked out of Lok Sabha in protest against various issues. As soon as the House met for the day, members from the Congress and the DMK wanted to raise certain issues.

One of the members displayed a printout with the words "Justice for Stan Swamy". The Speaker told the protesting members that the Question Hour was important and it was for them. However, they sought to raise various issues.

Later, members of the Congress, DMK, NCP and the National Conference among others walked out of the House during the Question Hour. Some of them were heard shouting "nahi chalega (this will not do)". Some of them, however, returned to the House after some time.

On Tuesday, a US-based forensic firm claimed that digital evidence used to arrest Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy in the Bhima-Koregaon case was "planted" on his computer's hard drive. Stan Swamy, 84, who was an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, died in July 2021, while waiting for interim bail on medical grounds.