Oppn protests rock Rajya Sabha, Mayawati resigns
NEW DELHI: The proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were disrupted on Tuesday by an angry opposition which sought to raise several issues like the violence against Dalits and minorities, to attack the government, as an angry BSP chief Mayawati resigned as a member of the Upper House.
The noisy protests by the opposition members, many of whom trooped into the Well raising slogans, forced adjournment of the proceedings, once till noon, then till 2 PM and again till 3 PM.
Soon after the House assembled for the day, a visibly angry Mayawati, who was speaking on the recent antidalit violence in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, threatened to resign from the House after the Chair asked her to restrict her impromptu speech.
“I will resign from Rajya Sabha today,” Mayawati shot back when Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked her to wrap up her speech as she had exceeded the three minutes given to her to make her submission.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Mayawati was challenging the Chair. “She should apologise. She has threatened the Chair,” he said.
The leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad briefly prevailed over them to allow him to make his submission.
Azad said the government at an all-party meeting before the start of the Monsoon Session had agreed to discuss any issue that the opposition wants to raise in the house.
“Promise was made to us in the presence of the Prime Minister. You are going against that,” he said.
Naqvi said the government was ready for discussion on any issue and the opposition should give a notice.
Kurien said the government was agreeing to have a discussion, so the opposition members should return to their seats and start it.
“Shouting slogan is no solution. We can discuss. The Chair is ready to allow discussion on all subjects. Let us start,” he said. But the opposition members remained unrelenting, forcing him to adjourn the proceedings till 1200 hours.
No sooner than the House reassembled at noon, slogan shouting Congress members trooped into the Well. They were followed by the members of Trinamool Congress and others.
Amid slogan shouting by members of Congress and other parties, Chairman Hamid Ansari called for taking up the Question Hour.
TMC member Derek O’brien tried to speak but could not be heard amidst the noisy scenes.
Some members of the AIADMK too rushed into the Well as other opposition party members were on their feet.
The continued sloganeering forced the Chairman to adjourn the House till 1400 hrs.
When the House reassembled at 1400 hrs, TMC member Derek O’brien said that several opposition members had given notices on issues related to farmers and the lynchings that have taken place across the country.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government was ready for a discussion.
NEW DELHI: The second day of the ongoing Monsoon session saw the Opposition closing ranks with Vice Presidential candidates of NDA and the two Vice Presidential candidates filing their nominations. However, on the other hand, BJD and JD-U’S support to Gopal Krishna Gandhi also took political experts by surprise.
After extending their support to NDA’S choice Ram Nath Kovind, both Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced support to Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, who is opposition’s choice for Vice President’s post.
“The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will support Sri Gopalkrishna Gandhi,” Patnaik told media persons in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.
Even according to the party leadership, the BJD chief’s decision proved that the party keeps equal distance from both Congress and BJP. On the other hand, another regional party, who also seem to keep the neutral political image, JD-U have already announced its support to non-nda candidate on Monday and the party leadership called the former West Bengal governor as “better candidate” than former Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.
Moreover, all 17 opposition parties held a meeting at the chamber of the Leader of Opposition of the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Parliament House before the commencement of the second day of the ongoing Monsoon session.
While briefing the newsmen here, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’brien said, “This is the first time opposition parties have shortlisted six or seven issues to be raised in both the Houses jointly. Mob lynching, where minority and weaker sections of the society are being victimized, recent increase in farmers’ suicide and agrarian crisis across the nation, Indiachina border stand-off and the recent attack on Amarnath pilgrims are the prime issues.”
Apart from the above, the incumbent Bjp-led government using the CBI and ED especially against the opposition party leaders, the emerging GST plight in all business sectors, aftereffects of demonetization, government’s failure to create jobs and the recent data by agencies on bleak job scenario in India will also be discussed in both the Upper and the Lower Houses of the Parliament, the TMC leader said.
In Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and TMC MP Sougata Roy jointly gave adjournment notice on the farmers’ plight and all opposition leaders demanded House to be adjourned on Tuesday. According to them, the incumbent government should seriously think about the issue.
Because of the repeated disruptions, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had to adjourn the House for the day. Later in Business Advisory Committee, it was decided farmers’ plight would be discussed in the House on Tuesday under rule 193- discussion without voting. Opposition parties gave 12 notices of suspension of the Business of the House. In the opposition party meeting, other than congress, TMC, Left, JD-U, SP, BSP, DMK and a host of other smaller parties were present.
BSP chief Mayawati’s resignation from the Rajya Sabha is also going to be another bludgeon for the Opposition in the Parliament in the ongoing session, political observers feel.