Manipur’s Divide
The ethnic tensions in Manipur between the Kuki-Zo tribes and the Meitei community have brought the state's governance under intense scrutiny.
A day after Congress MP from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi said he was not allowed to ask supplementary questions in Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday said it was not right to raise questions on decisions of the Chair outside the House. His remarks came after the House took up a question related to cold storage for fish, where many supplementaries were asked. It took around 20 minutes before the Speaker moved to the next question.
Pls note @RahulGandhi asked for names of the top 50 individuals/companies who are wilful defaulters, not the top banks suffering bad loans. Yet the Govt did not give out the names—& @ianuragthakur’s reply took more than five minutes, so RG couldn’t ask a supplementary. Shameful. https://t.co/4hyCyGJkAD
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— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 16, 2020
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Birla has always been emphasising in the House that questions as well as answers should be kept short so that more issues can be taken up during the Question Hour. On Tuesday, some members, including from the Congress, wanted to ask supplementary questions. “If one question takes around 15-20 minutes… and then saying supplementary questions are not being allowed after 12 (noon) is not good,” Birla said.
He also said that raising questions against the decision of the Chair outside the House is not right. On Monday, the Congress leader said his right as an MP to ask a supplementary question in Lok Sabha was taken away as the Speaker did not allow him to ask one.
On Monday Rahul Gandhi accused the government of ducking his question seeking naming of top 50 wilful bank defaulters as he said, “Why is the government so scared of naming them (wilful defaulters)? The PM had said action will be taken against them. But why is the government not placing their names on the table?
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