NEW DELHI: The proceedings in the Lok Sabha were disrupted today by angry Congress members who raised anti-government slogans over a range of issues, including revocation of suspension of six of its members, forcing its adjournment for the day.
The House, which saw two adjournments in the afternoon due to the noisy protests, was adjourned for the day at around 3.45 PM.
For most part of the day, many Congress members were in the Well raising slogans like “Pradhan Mantri jawab do (PM should reply)”, “tanashahi nahin chalegi (end dictatorship)”, “jaat ke nam par rajniti band karo (End politics in the name of caste)” and “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai, aapas me hain bhai-bhai.
On the suspension of six Congress MPs, the members, including K C Venugopal and Ravneet Singh Bittu, also shouted “Speaker saheb, nyay karo (Speaker, do justice). At one point of time, they were also joined by members of Trinamool Congress.
Amidst the day-long slogan-shouting by Congress and other opposition members with many of them in the Well, the House took up the Question Hour, proceeded partially with the Zero Hour and then debated and passed the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
As soon as the bill was passed in the afternoon, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal initiated a discussion on the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2016, which was listed in the day’s agenda. This bill has been listed for discussion since last week.
As the the din continued, Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government has several times requested the Congress members to sit and participate in the discussions but they are not ready to listen.
“We are ready to debate any issue but they are not ready,” he said, adding that during the discussion on agrarian crisis, the Congress members had walked out.
“Why is Congress doing a walk in, walk out…They will be walked out (sic) from all over,” Kumar said while criticising the Congress members for throwing papers towards the Chair.
“It is highly condemnable. They should have apologised. This is against democracy…This is anti-tradition and anti- democracy,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Congress members raised slogans, also accusing the government of adopting a “dictatorial” attitude. But the proceedings continued amid disturbances.
As soon as the House took up the Question Hour, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of cow vigilantism. But Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said he would not be allowed to raise any issue during the Question Hour.
After the Question Hour, the Congress members continued to protest and sought to raise various issues ranging from lynchings in the name of protecting cows to the agrarian crisis and the farmers’ plight.
As external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj rose to make a statement on the Indians missing in Mosul city of Iraq, Congress members were unrelenting and Kharge was heard saying that they wanted to raise issues relating to mob lynching and farmers.
However, the Speaker adjourned the House first till noon and then till 12.45 PM as noisy scenes prevailed. (AGENCIES)
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