A day after the monsoon session of Parliament adjourned amid scenes of chaos over the pushing through of the General Insurance Bill, senior ministers in the Union government on Thursday demanded that Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu initiate strong action against Opposition MPs who, they said, violated rules on the floor of the House
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Labour Minister Bhupendra Yadav addressed a joint presser, castigating the Opposition for what they termed as obstructionist behaviour and alleged manhandling of marshals.
“The Opposition’s approach of ‘my way or highway’ is extremely condemnable,” said Mr. Goyal, adding that the group of ministers met Chairman Naidu and Deputy Chairman of the House Harivansh, and made an earnest appeal that the strongest possible action should be taken against the opposition MPs for their deplorable behaviour .
Mr Anurag Thakur said “the secretary general’s table in Rajya Sabha is not meant for dancing and protesting”, referring to an incident when an opposition leader was seen atop a table inside the Upper House.
“We demand that Rajya Sabha Chairman should take stringent action against those opposition MPs who broke rules,” Mr. Joshi said, alleging that it was “pre-decided by the Congress and its friendly allies” that they would not allow Parliament to function.
Mr. Thakur alleged that “anarchy from streets to Parliament” was the Opposition’s only agenda during the monsoon session. He said the Opposition should apologise to the nation for what happened in Parliament.
A group of opposition leaders also met Mr. Naidu and complained against the alleged heckling of MPs, including women members.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Naidu broke down over the huge ruckus in the House and equated the act of some opposition MPs to “sacrilege in the temple of democracy”. The monsoon session of Parliament was later cut short by two days.
Leaders of several opposition parties on Thursday held a rally in protest against the government on several issues, including Pegasus snooping, farm laws, and alleged manhandling of their MPs in Rajya Sabha, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying the voice of people was crushed in Parliament and democracy was “murdered”.
Published - August 12, 2021 03:14 pm IST
