Click to play videoNew Delhi: The stage was set for a stormy winter session of Parliament beginning Wednesday with BJP-led NDA and Left parties on Sunday giving enough indications to target the Government on a range of issues including the Indo-US nuclear deal, SEZ and religion-based reservation.
Trouble may be brewing for the Congress-led coalition right from the start with NDA planning to raise the demand for clemency to Parliament attack convict Mohammed Afzal Guru, attack the Government on national security issue while Left parties will organise a farmers' march to Parliament on the opening day itself.
Leader of the Opposition L K Advani on Sunday stepped up his campaign on Afzal's clemency issue by asking the people to send telegrams to the Prime Minister that the convict should be hanged.
Addressing a rally in Bangalore, he said political parties should rise above vote bank politics as there is a need to send an unambiguous message to terrorists by hanging Afzal.
While no one has said anything on the death sentence awarded to Santosh Singh in Priyadarshini Mattoo case, many people, organisations and NGOs have been advocating clemency for Afzal, saying capital punishment is uncivilised, Advani said.
He said while there is no doubt that Santosh Singh should be hanged for his heinous crime, Afzal's crime was not against any individual but against the country and democracy and so "several times more shocking".
The session, being held at a time when the controversy over reservations is raging, the presentation in Parliament of the report of the Sachar Committee, which went into the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims, could turn out to be another flashpoint.
Reflecting the aggressive posture of the NDA on this issue, Advani said "we strongly suspect that the UPA Government is going to use the Sachar Committee report to introduce -- or promise to introduce -- religion-based reservations for Muslims" but BJP would "not compromise on this".
"We will not allow reservation based on religion. The BJP forewarns the Government that this move will be resisted tooth-and-nail," he said.
Advani charged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had been trying to pursue the issue of reservation for Muslims ever since she became the party President.
Advani also criticised the Government for setting up a anti-terror mechanism with Pakistan, saying such an arrangement was akin to a joint probe into the 9/11 strikes by the US and Al Qaeda.
Advani also attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement that Islamabad was a victim of terrorism.
CPI-M Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told reporters in Hyderabad that Left parties will take up issues pertaining to conditionalities brought in US Senate while passing the Indo-US civil nuclear deal last week, SEZs and farmers issues.
"Restricting nuclear fuel supplies to three years besides other such strictures by the US goes against the interests of India, which appears to be contrary to the assurance given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," he said.
"On SEZs, our stand has been clear and we will press for more prudence on this issue," he said.
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