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Tuesday, Dec 23, 2008
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Antulay issue rocks Parliament

New Delhi Bureau

A.R. Antulay

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena on Monday stepped up their protest against Union Minister for Minority Affairs A.R. Antulay, forcing repeated adjournments of both Houses of Parliament until the presiding officers called it a day early in the afternoon.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s assurance in the Rajya Sabha of a government response before the end of this session was of no avail.

However, the government went ahead with its business — introducing and clearing a host of legislation through the din.

Demanding Mr. Antulay’s dismissal, BJP and Shiv Sena members picketed the well of the Lok Sabha after question hour despite repeated assurances from Speaker Somnath Chatterjee that they would be allowed to raise the matter. Their siege of the well continued even when the introduction of the Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2008, was put to vote at the insistence of the CPI(M).

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha, with BJP members entering the well, seeking a discussion on the comments by Mr. Antulay, while Congress members wanted normal business to continue. The first adjournment was for 10 minutes; Chairman Hamid Ansari announced a second break till noon. In the afternoon, the reason for the protests included introduction of the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, with the Left Parties taking the initiative.

The government introduced in the Lok Sabha the National Highways Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill, and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Amendment) Bill.

The Supplementary Demand for Grants (Railways), the Appropriation (Railways) Bill, the Gram Nyayalayas Bill, the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Bill, the Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, and the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill were passed by the Lok Sabha without discussion. Similarly, the Rajya Sabha cleared the South Asian University Bill.

Outside Parliament, the CPI(M) said the government should come out with a statement about Mr. Antulay’s remarks since he was a Union Minister.

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