Ministers Across the Country Will Fast Along With PM Modi
Addressing party MPs through an audio conference call ahead of the protest, PM Modi said the BJP leaders and its workers will observe a fast on 12 April to "expose" those handful of people who "throttled" democracy by stalling Parliament proceedings during the Budget session.
Besides Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu will observe the fast in New Delhi.
As per the schedule prepared by the BJP for observing the fast across the country, Union Health Minister JP Nadda will be in Modi's constituency Varanasi, while Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will travel to Patna for it, party sources said.
Many other ministers will travel to various places across the country to observe the fast.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will observe the fast in Chennai, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javdekar in Benguluru, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel in Tamil Nadu and Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. Tourism Minister KJ Alphons will observe the fast in Kerala.
Besides ministers, all the party MPs will also sit on a fast in their respective constituencies, while BJP Chief Amit Shah will hold a sit-in at Hubli in poll-bound Karnataka on Thursday.
The recently-concluded Budget session was the worst in terms of productivity in about a decade.
Last week, while speaking at the BJP's parliamentary party meeting, Modi had accused the Opposition, particularly the Congress, of practising divisive politics and stalling Parliament.
Congress Did Not Want Debate, Just Wanted to Make Noise: Amit Shah
BJP president Amit Shah joined the nationwide protest against disruption of Parliament in Dharwad, Karnataka. Addressing BJP workers Shah said, “Congress knew very well that they can not debate in any of the House so they did not let the Parliament function.”
#FastWithPMModi vs #UpvasKaJumla
In order to propagate their respective agendas on twitterverse, the IT cells of both the BJP and Congress seem to be working overtime.
From party functionaries to Union ministers, politicians from both the sides have been tweeting about the fast called by PM Narendra Modi. The only difference being their choice of hashtags: BJP's #FastWithPMModi and the Opposition's #UpvaskaJumla.
BJP Leaders Observing Fast Clash With CPI Workers in Vizag; 20 Held
BJP workers, led by Andhra Pradesh unit president K Hari Babu, observed a fast in Visakhapatnam on to protest the 'stalling' of Parliament by opposition parties.
Tension prevailed when some CPI workers picked up an argument with BJP leaders over the fast.
This led to a clash between the two sides, police said, adding, about 20 CPI workers were arrested Hari Babu alleged that the Telugu Desam Party was responsible for 'stalling' parliament proceedings.
Oppn Has No Alternative to Modi, Says a Fasting Fadnavis
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis observed fast in Mumbai along with other BJP MPs and MLAs, and hit out at the opposition saying it does not have any alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Fadnavis, along with Lok Sabha members Poonam Mahajan (North Central Mumbai) and Paresh Rawal (Gujarat), local MLAs Parag Alavani, Amit Satam and Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar sat on the day-long fast at the party office in suburban Vile Parle.
The chief minister said, "People know contradictions of the opposition parties. They can't stay together. What is the alternative to Modi in terms of policies, programmes and leadership? The opposition only wants power...(but) they don't have an alternative to Modi."
He said the Congress has no moral strength to face Parliament because when the Prime Minister counters it. "They have no face to show." He also alleged that most of the atrocities on Dalits took place during the Congress rule.