New Delhi, March 17 Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi responded to former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's concerns about disruptions in Parliament by the opposition, stating that his observations have been noted. Gandhi also extended greetings to Deve Gowda on the eve of Ugadi.
Deve Gowda wrote to Gandhi on Monday, saying he had been "greatly disturbed" by the "unthinking" introduction of chaos inside Parliament and its premises, "primarily by the opposition parties".
"I strongly feel that Congress parliamentarians, led by the Leader of the Opposition, have provoked far too many disruptions inside Parliament and in its premises," the JD (S) Rajya Sabha MP said in the letter, adding that their protests and blockades outside Parliament were "unprecedented".
"Parliament has recently witnessed an excess of slogan-shouting, display of placards, and name-calling. There has been an attitude of non-seriousness that has undermined my very idea and construct of Parliament and parliamentary democracy," he added.
Responding to the letter, Gandhi said, "Dear Shri Devegowda, I have just received your letter dated March 16, 2026. I have read it carefully and noted your concerns."
"I extend my greetings to you on the eve of Ugadi," Gandhi said in her brief reply to Gowda's two-page letter.
Ugadi is the first day of the year on the Hindu calendar. It is traditionally celebrated by the Kannadigas and Telugu people in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, in some parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
In his letter to Gandhi, JD(S) chief Deve Gowda had said his idea of parliamentary democracy was built on the lessons and guidance imparted by founding fathers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, B R Ambedkar, and Moulana Abdul Kalam Azad, among others.
"In my long experience, I have never witnessed Parliament in such chaos and casualness as we have seen recently. Let me tell you, in all my career, even under extreme provocation, I have never entered the Well of the House to protest either in the state legislature or in Parliament. That culture was what the elders of our democracy taught us," he said.
"You yourself have spent long years in the opposition, and while there, you have conducted yourself with grace and maturity," he said.
Deve Gowda urged Gandhi to speak to her party leaders and others in the opposition, and ask them "not to harm themselves, their cause, and their political futures in the long run".
"I am very confident that you will do the needful... I believe that the opposition must protest as much as it wants, but that protest has to be framed in a way that does not dismantle what we have built together, in over 75 glorious years," the former prime minister had said.