Jaishankar to brief Lok Sabha on Middle East war, Opposition seeks full debate
India Today
The Congress and other opposition parties have demanded a full-fledged debate, with Jairam Ramesh saying ministerial statements do not allow MPs to seek clarifications.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will brief the Lok Sabha on Monday on the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East as Parliament reconvenes for the second half of the Budget session.
The minister’s statement, listed in the Lok Sabha’s revised agenda circulated on Sunday evening, comes amid intensifying hostilities in the region involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have heightened global security concerns and drawn attention in Parliament.
The development has also triggered political sparring ahead of the session, with the opposition pressing for a full-fledged debate on the conflict and its implications for India.
Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said the opposition would prefer a detailed discussion rather than a ministerial statement, arguing that such statements rarely allow MPs to seek clarifications.
“It has been let known that the External Affairs Minister will make a statement in both Houses of Parliament on the situation in West Asia. The problems with such Ministerial statements are that (i) they convey little of value over and above that is already known; and more importantly (ii) MPs are not given an opportunity to seek clarifications or ask questions,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
He pointed to the debate held in the Lok Sabha on the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 under former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying Parliament had then adopted a resolution condemning the invasion.
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