Hope Oppn gets its due space in House: Kharge

The Centre has failed to tame inflation and provide employment, Congress lawmaker and leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said on Monday, drawing a contrast between previous Congress dispensations that provided space to the Opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime that he alleged did not engage with political opponents

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

The foundation laid by the previous governments is now overlooked, Kharge said in a speech in the Upper House during the discussion on 75 years of parliamentary journey. The government that vilifies Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, should recall that he accommodated in his cabinet even those who were ideologically opposed to him, Kharge said, citing the name of Jana Sangh leader SP Mookerjee as a case in point.

"People in the BJP say many things about Nehruji, but sometimes they also say that Nehruji had so much nobility that he had made the leader of his political opposition, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, the minister of industry and supplies," he said.