As the Rajya Sabha remained stalled due to protests by Opposition parties, including the Congress, for the fourth day in a row, Union finance minister and leader of the House Arun Jaitley on Monday in
As the Rajya Sabha remained stalled due to protests by Opposition parties, including the Congress, for the fourth day in a row, Union finance minister and leader of the House Arun Jaitley on Monday invoked Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to remind Congress of the responsibility of MPs for governance of the country through Parliament.
The RS witnessed repeated adjournment on Monday over alleged atrocities against Dalits in Punjab as both Ms Mayawati’s BSP and Congress demanded the dismissal of SAD-BJP government in the state. Ms Mayawati cited the issue of alleged chopping off of limbs of two dalit youth at a farmhouse in Abohar, with her party members trooping into the well of the House. BSP members were soon joined by Congress MPs.
Opposition members remained unrelenting, despite repeated requests from the chair to allow the House to function, prompting the chair to note that some members were “hijacking the House.”
Even external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had to read the suo motu statement on her visit to Islambad, amid sloganeering by the opposition, who kept shouting “Dalit virodhi yeh sarkar nahi chalegi (anti-Dalit government will not be tolerated),” as well as seeking dismisal of Punjab government. In an article on his Facebook page, Mr Jaitley apprehended a “wash out” of the current Winter Session of Parliament.
“The last session of the Parliament did not function. The current session of the Parliament is also threatened with a wash out. The reasons for the wash out of the current session keep changing by the hour.....The question we need to ask ourselves is are we being fair to ourselves and this country ” Mr Jaitley wrote.
The finance minister also quoted a speech on the Parliamentary system by Pandit Nehru to hammer home his point.
He said that the speech delivered on March 28, 1957 in the last day of first Lok Sabha by Pandit Nehru is “a must read for all of us.” Taking a dig at Congress over frequent disruptions in Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaitley said, “Those who claim the legacy of Pandit ji must ask themselves the question, what kind of history are they making.”
As Opposition members continued shouting slogans in the Upper House, MoS parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the government condemns the incident in strongest possible terms and supports strict action against the accused, but a state subject cannot be discussed in Parliament.
As deputy chairman P.J. Kurien’s pleas went unheeded, he said “some members are hijacking the House.” “It is most unfortunate, undemocratic that few members are taking the House to ransom. You have no justification for doing it.”
Hitting at the Punjab government, leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “The coalition government in Punjab is worse than terrorism. There is no law and order in the state. The state government should be dismissed. We are not just demanding action (against accused), we are talking about dismissal of the (state) government.”
At 2 pm, when the House reconvened, the protests continued. Amid the din, Congress’s Anand Sharma raised the issue of exclusion of Kerala chief minister from a Prime Minister’s Tuesday’s event in Kerala. Mr Jaitley intervened to say that the matter pertained to a private organisation’s withdrawal of invitation and it should not be raised in the House.
As the din continued, social justice and development minister Thawar Chand Ghelot introduced the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Amendment Bill. But no discussion could take place as the House was adjourned till 3 pm.
