Politics
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From street play to street fight: MPs turn Makar Dwar into political melee
New Delhi: Parliament’s Makar Dwar witnessed chaotic scenes on Tuesday as MPs from the ruling NDA and the Congress-led Opposition confronted each other during rival protests, with security personnel struggling to keep the two groups apart. Lawmakers carrying placards and shouting slogans came face-to-face at the entrance to Parliament. Security personnel formed a cordon between them as the confrontation intensified. Visuals from the spot showed MPs and security personnel packed into the narrow space outside Makar Dwar, with pushing and jostling as the two sides attempted to continue their demonstrations. View this post on Instagram The confrontation was triggered by two different political campaigns centred on student protests. NDA MPs raised the police action against government job aspirants in Jharkhand and targeted the Congress over its role in the JMM-led coalition government in the state. Students protesting alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations in Ranchi faced tear gas, water cannons and lathi-charge during their march towards the Jharkhand Assembly. BJP MPs from Jharkhand had already been raising the recruitment controversy in Parliament, seeking a CBI probe and accusing the Congress of applying different standards to student protests depending on which party was in power. Opposition MPs, meanwhile, continued to press the Centre over the police action against students during the July 20 NEET-related protests in Delhi. Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders have demanded accountability from Home Minister Amit Shah over the use of force during the agitation. The competing political campaigns converged at Makar Dwar on Tuesday, turning an area used by MPs to enter and leave Parliament into another arena of confrontation. Makar Dwar repeatedly becomes protest venue Tuesday’s scenes were not the first such face-off during the Monsoon Session. On July 23, NDA and INDIA bloc MPs staged rival protests at the same location over the NEET paper leak controversy. Security personnel had to form a human chain between the two camps as lawmakers exchanged slogans. Less than two weeks ago, the Parliament complex also became the stage for a political street play. On July 31, Independent MP Pappu Yadav, dressed as a temple priest, joined Opposition MPs in a symbolic performance over allegations concerning Ram Temple donations. Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, participated in the protest at Makar Dwar. The performance involved MPs acting as devotees and placing money into donation boxes before Yadav, playing the priest, was shown taking the money, representing the Opposition’s allegation of misappropriation. Political theatre is hardly new to Parliament. MPs have long used placards, marches, symbolic demonstrations and walkouts to draw attention to issues. Tuesday’s confrontation crossed into a more troubling space because rival groups of elected representatives were physically packed against each other at one of Parliament’s main entrances while security personnel attempted to prevent the situation from escalating. Parliament has seen this before Makar Dwar has witnessed physical confrontation earlier as well. In December 2024, competing BJP and Opposition protests over remarks concerning B R Ambedkar ended in shoving and jostling. Two BJP MPs were injured, both sides accused the other of physical aggression and police complaints followed. The recurrence of such confrontations has made the location itself part of the problem. Rival groups gathering at the same entrance leave little physical separation when slogans and political exchanges become heated. Tuesday’s episode came as India approaches its 80th Independence Day and Parliament remains in session dealing with issues that have generated intense public debate, including examination integrity and the treatment of protesting students. Both the Jharkhand recruitment controversy and the NEET agitation involve substantive questions affecting young people. Those issues remain open to debate, investigation and political disagreement. The spectacle at Makar Dwar, however, shifted attention away from those questions and towards the conduct of the lawmakers raising them. Parliament is expected to accommodate fierce disagreement. The latest confrontation showed how quickly that disagreement can lose its parliamentary character when rival protests are allowed to collide at its doors. Parliament Makar Dwar clash, NDA Opposition MPs protest, Jharkhand student protest, NEET protest Parliament, Rahul Gandhi student protest News keywords: MPs clash Parliament August 11, Makar Dwar confrontation, Jharkhand recruitment protest Parliament, NDA Opposition face-off, Parliament Monsoon Session 2026
