Parliament saw early adjournments last week. Rajya Sabha proceedings have been already paralysed since the beginning of the session over suspension of 12 Opposition members.
The proceedings of Lok Sabha were disrupted after demands for dismissal of Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra grew stronger over his son’s alleged involvement in Lakhimpur Kheri violence. There was frequent display of placards and rushing to Wells of the two Houses by the Opposition.
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An easy solution to the Opposition’s demands did not seem imminent, but either side failed to show a give and take approach in the interest of normalcy. After all, Parliament gave the Opposition and the Government a rare opportunity to project their views in open debates disseminated widely by print as well as electronic media.
There could be no larger national forum where people’s concerns could be raised most vocally and the powers that be could be held accountable for their acts. The Lok Sabha barely functioned on the first two days of the week.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which was opposed at its introduction itself for bringing a penal provision with retrospective effect, was passed on Monday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman explained the Government was only correcting a “clerical error” in the earlier text of the legislation. BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab mentioned the Government was committing another mistake to correct a mistake.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury referred to Omicron during the Zero Hour the next day. He pointed out vaccination of children had started in Europe and the Government should take a decision. Kalyan Banerjee (Trinamool Congress) said the UK had already reported its first death due to Omicron.
The third day had the House boiling over reported findings of an SIT in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that showed the attack on farmers was planned. The Opposition in full force demanded the Minister of State for Home’s resignation. The uproar and chaos that followed forced the adjournment of the House for the day. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had given an adjournment notice for a discussion, but the Government maintained the subject was sub-judice. The Opposition failed to relent even after Rajendra Agarwal in Chair said a discussion on price rise was coming up.
The next two days, too, the Lower House was adjourned for the day shortly after 2 pm.
On Thursday, the Lakhimpur Kheri incident forced quick adjournments. Amidst the din, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav introduced the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the House was adjourned the day.
On Friday, the Question Hour of the Lower House was disrupted, and post-lunch, the House rose for the day, after introduction of three Bills, including the National Anti-Doping Bill by Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.
The anti-doping Bill seeks to create a statutory framework for tackling doping in sports and to give wider powers to the country’s anti-doping watchdog. The Finance Minister introduced the Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
The Rajya Sabha appeared stuck in an impasse. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu repeated his earlier counsel that Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge should sit together and sort out the suspended members’ issue. But the two sides took positions from where a breakthrough did not appear imminent. Kharge said the members were punished for acts which they had not committed, while Goyal gave a list of the offences committed by the members.
The Upper House, on the third day, was adjourned at 3.20 pm.
On Thursday, the House rose for the day shortly after 2 pm, while on Friday, the Chairman adjourned the House within 20 minutes of assembly at 11 am, not giving any chance to let the House get into disorder over any issue. He began the day with a reference that ‘Durga Puja in Kolkata’ has been inscribed into the coveted ‘Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ by the UNESCO.
The festival was particularly praised for its all-inclusive approach cutting across barriers of religion, gender and economic strata, he said. After presentation of official papers, he said he had a talk with Goyal and some senior Members of Opposition. “I would like to appeal to each one of you to please arrive at some consensus to see to it that the House functions normally. In order to facilitate discussion among yourselves, I am adjourning the House to meet at 11.00 am on Monday.”
