At the start of the second half of the monsoon session of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed the Opposition was not letting him speak. “For two-and-a-half hours, attempts were made to throttle the voice of the prime minister…they have no remorse over it,” Modi wailed disingenuously. It was a lament that smacks of political hypocrisy.
It is under Modi’s watch that there has been a grave dismantling of free speech both inside and outside Parliament. Modi claims the Opposition shows no remorse, but has Modi ever shown remorse for throttling the voices of scores of dissenters and activists? It is precisely this self-obsessed vanity and privileging of the government view that has led to a breakdown of trust between the Opposition and the government in Parliament.
