Accusing the opposition MPs of disrespecting Parliament by standing on tables, breaking glasses and manhandling women marshals, Union minister Piyush Goyal urged Rajya Sabha Chairperson to form a special committee that would investigate the House proceedings in detail and take strict action.
“I think the House has never seen such unruly behaviour in the past,” he said.
Piyush Goyal, who is also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, said opposition MPs manhandled marshals, including women, smashed glasses of the House and stood on tables. “They have disrespected the Chair and the House.”
“The worst is that an attempt was made to strangle a woman marshal. It has lowered the stature of the House. When Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and I tried to come to the House from our chamber, we too were stopped. I want you (Chair) to go into details of every incident. All these incidents need to be investigated after going through the recordWe demand that a special committee be formed to investigate the proceedings properlyand strictest action should be taken,” Piyush Goyal said.
He added the opposition MPs misbehaved throughout the Monsoon Session of Parliament and did not listen to the Chair. “Such behaviour is unacceptable to the House and the country,” Piyush Goyal said.
The situation worsened when the insurance amendment bill was taken up in the Rajya Sabha. The opposition MPs called it a “sell-off” and stormed into the Well of the House shouting anti-government slogans.
They were, however, prevented from going anywhere near the table of the House or the chair by a wall of about 50 security staff that sort of cordoned off what Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu referred to as the “sanctum sanctorum”. Naidu also said a “certain degree of sacredness” is attached to this place.
MONSOON SESSION ENDS 2 DAYS EARLY
Due to constant disruptions and adjournments, the Monsoon Session of Parliament was curtailed by two days on Wednesday. Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu broke down over the ruckus in the House and equated the act of some opposition MPs to “sacrilege in temple of democracy” and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said he was “extremely hurt” by continuous disruptions in the House.
The Monsson Session was scheduled to end on August 13 but both the houses were adjourned sine die on Wednesday amid the unrelenting opposition protests over the Pegasus snooping row and the three farm laws.
The Rajya Sabha however was able to pass the key constitutional amendment bill to restore the powers of the states to make their own OBC lists. The Lok Sabha had passed the bill on Tuesday.
OPPOSITION HITS OUT AT GOVT, TO HIT STREETS
Meanwhile, opposition MPs alleged that the government used marshals to employ brute force against them. They claimed that some women MPs were also injured as marshals attacked the Opposition.
During the House proceeding, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that some women MPs from the opposition have suffered injuries and that male marshals were deployed against them. “The entire House has been turned into a fort,” he said.
“A black day for Parliament. They have virtually made it a military barrack. Brute force was used against members, including women. What was our crime? We opposed the Insurance Bill. It in fact was insurance annihilation bill. ‘Atmanirbhar BJP' has surrendered India to the capitalists,” CPI MP Binoy Viswam tweeted.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O'Brien tweeted, “#Censorship Modi-Shah Gujarat model now well and truly in Delhi 6.15 PM August 11. What @rajyasabhatv is not showing you. Now, there are more security guards than MPs in the House as the government tries to BULLDOZE Insurance Bill (sic).”
Opposition leaders have announced they would be assembling at Parliament on Thursday and go to Vijay Chowk to “tell people that this government isn't ready to discuss burning issues of this country”.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will also join these leaders, Congress leader K Suresh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Ugly scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday too as opposition MPs climbed on the officials' table, waved black cloth and threw files when the House began a discussion on farmers' protest against new reform laws.
Several MPs stood on the table where the parliamentary staff sits right below the chair, while others crowded around it shouting anti-government slogans.
A few members squatted on the tables for over one-and-half hours during which proceedings were adjourned multiple times. No sooner had a discussion on the farmers' issues been called, MPs belonging to opposition parties including the Congress and the TMC trooped into the Well shouting slogans seeking withdrawal of the controversial farm reform legislations.
As vice chairman Bhubaneswar Kalita called members to speak on the issue, Sanjay Singh of AAP climbed on the table right below the presiding officer's chair and starting chanting slogans against the farm laws. This forced Kalita to briefly adjourn the proceedings.
As the House marshals brought Singh down from the table, Congress' Pratap Singh Bajwa climbed the table, shouted slogans and then hurled a file at the Chair. Ripun Bora of his party too was seen standing on the table for some time.
All this happened during the adjournment period.
When the House re-assembled, Sanjay Singh was back on the table and this time he was joined by Binoy Visman of CPI, CPM's V Sivadasan, Congress' Deepender Hooda, Ripun Bora and Rajamani Patel, DMK's M Shanmugham and Mausam Noor of TMC, leading to another adjournment for 30 minutes.
(With agency inputs)
