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Opposition members walk out of the Rajya Sabha during PM Narendra Modi’s reply to the Motion of Thanks in the Presidential Address, in New Delhi on July 3 (Image: PTI)
Condemning the “disturbing behaviour”, government sources said the provocation to disrupt and undermine healthy debate was part of a larger and sinister plan.
Repeated disruptions marked the proceedings of the House in Parliament for the last two days. The Rajya Sabha adjourned on Wednesday, but not before the opposition staged a walkout because Mallikarjun Kharge wanted to intervene during the prime minister’s reply to the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President for his speech in the joint session of Parliament.
Condemning the “disturbing behaviour”, a government source said the incident was “scary for anyone who believes in democratic principles and wants a vibrant parliamentary democracy”.
“It is very clear that this provocation to disrupt and destroy a healthy debate is part of a larger and sinister plan,” he said, adding that the question now is whether this will be presented as a routine incident or brought to the public with an important message about how democracy is destroyed.
Here are five incidents of disruption in Parliament over the past two days:
- Amid opposition sloganeering during Modi’s speech, INDIA’s Congress-led bloc parties staged a walkout after Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was not allowed to intervene during the PM’s speech. Speaker Jagdeep Dhankhar ignored the Congress president’s plea, leading opposition MPs to raise slogans and demand that they be allowed to speak. Modi continued his speech amid slogans of “LoP, LoP” and this continued for some time with Kharge repeatedly asking to be allowed to speak.
- But when permission came, the opposition staged a walkout from the House. Dhankhar condemned the act, saying it was an insult to the Constitution. “… LoP was given enough time to speak without interruption. Today, he not only walked out of the House, he left his dignity. Today, he did not show his back, he showed to the Constitution of India. He did not insult me or you, he an insult to the Constitution he took. There is no greater insult to the Constitution of India than this…I condemn his actions…”
- The PM also said that the opposition is spreading lies and has no power to listen to the truth. “…Those who do not dare to face the truth, do not dare to listen to the answers to the questions in the discussion. They insulted the Gedung Luhur, the noble tradition of the Gedung Luhur,” he said. Later, Kharge said the opposition came out because Modi “said some false things in his address”. He said he wanted to give a point, but it wasn’t allowed.
- On Tuesday (July 2), when Modi spoke in the Lok Sabha, the opposition shouted slogans that led to a rebuke directed at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by Speaker Om Birla. Senior BJP leader Amit Malviya posted a video of the Leader of the Opposition from that day, taking a swipe at him saying the opposition leader’s actions were neither surprising nor new. Before the adjournment, the Lok Sabha also passed a resolution condemning the opposition’s disruption during the prime minister’s speech with Union defense minister Rajnath Singh saying the act “undermined” parliamentary norms. He moved the resolution after Modi’s speech and said: “The way the opposition violated the norms of the parliament when the PM spoke about the discussion on the Motion of Thanks for the President’s speech, I propose that the House condemn this act.
- Also on July 1, Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the Motion of Thanks for the President’s speech led to massive protests from the treasury bench, with Modi slamming him for calling the entire Hindu community violent. However, the Congress leader’s remarks were expunged from the record. On this occasion, too, in a rare incident, the PM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah both interrupted Gandhi in the middle of his speech while Rajnath Singh intervened when Congress MPs made allegations about compensation and pensions given to Agniveers under Agnipath scheme for armed. troop.
