Astitva News in News
The Rajya Sabha for the past two days has been suffering from unprecedented and dramatic commotion created by the opposition political parties who've been opposing passage of the controversial farm bills, two of which were passed on Sunday (20/09/20) and have now gone to the President for his assent.
On Sunday, as the bills were being passed, the opposition MPs resorted to protesting in the well of the house, chanting slogans, tearing up copies of the bill as well as breaking mics, all in violation of the physical distancing norms established in view of Covid-19.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Sanjay Singh and Congress member Rajiv Satav climbed onto the Secretary General's table at the centre of the house, Trinamool Congress member Derek O'Brien waved a rulebook in front of the Chairperson and some members pulled out mics at their seats, reported NDTV.
The opposition, weak in numbers to block the bills, demanded that the bills be sent to a select committee for scrutiny. They also demanded that the discussions be extended to the next day, however the Deputy Chairman of the house Harivansh Singh, refused and allowed Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to continue his reply before voting on the bills.
The opposition leaders started to protest against this and demanded physical voting, but the Deputy Chairman refused and conducted a Voice Vote amid the sloganeering and protests of the opposition leaders trying to disrupt the parliamentary proceedings.
This was followed by a sit-in protest by after the session by a number of opposition leaders, preventing the start of the shift of the Lok Sabha, as the Upper- House is also being used to seat MPs in a staggered manner in view of physical distancing norms mandated by the Covid-19 situation. Nearly 50 members also moved a no-confidence motion against Harivansh Singh.
However, today as the proceedings of the Upper House began, the Chairman, M. Venkaiah Naidu, expressed his discontent over the ruckus that was created in the house by the opposition leaders.
"It was a bad day for Rajya Sabha yesterday when some members came to the well of the House. Deputy Chairman was physically threatened. He was obstructed from doing his duty. This is unfortunate & condemnable. I suggest to MPs, please do some introspection" - Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu
The Chairman also dismissed the No-confidence motion that the opposition leaders had submitted against the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, stating that it wasn't admissible under the rules of the house.
Shortly thereafter, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, V. Muraleedharan, read out a motion seeking suspension of eight members for the remainder of the session. The motion was passed by a voice vote leading to the suspension of the 8 MPs, including TMC MP Derek O'Brien, due to their misconduct in the parliament's Upper House.
The Members suspended were asked to leave the house as according to the concerned Parliamentary rules, the house can't continue its legislative business, unless the members suspended leave, however, the commotion continued in the house leading to adjournment by the Chairman.