The third week of the winter session of Parliament was washed out on Friday over demonetisation, making a complete washout of the session a strong possibility with just three working days left before it ends on December 16.
In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition continued their attacks on demonetisation but also lambasted the waiver of import duties on wheat. CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury raised the matter in the zero hour, saying, “The government has decided to reduce import duty on wheat to zero. Fifty years after the Green Revolution and food self-sufficiency, we have come to a situation where we are ruining the Indian farmers and allowing big multinational corporations to make massive super profits.”
‘Fear of food riots’
“They are afraid that because of the demonetisation, there may be food riots. In order to prevent that, they are allowing this sort of zero import duty on wheat which is shameful for the country.”
Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said there was no dearth of buffer stocks in wheat but the decision had been taken as there were hints of inflation in wheat.
Amid the din, Mr. Yechury replied that this was because of demonetisation.
Jairam Ramesh of the Congress wondered why such imports were being allowed if buffer stocks were high. Reduction in duty would benefit companies of the U.S., France and Ukraine and hurt Indian farmers, he said.
Even as Sukhendu Sekhar Roy of the Trinamool Congress reiterated that the House condoled the deaths of people in bank queues, the House had to be adjourned repeatedly amid slogans.
In this session, the Lok Sabha managed to conduct only two legislative actions — passage of Income Tax amendment Bill and approval of Supplementary Demand for Grants.
In the Lok Sabha, the government hit out at the Opposition and demanded its apology for paralysing Parliament, citing the adverse comments by President Pranab Mukherjee over disruptions.
As the House assembled, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge rose to make some points but the BJP members cited the President’s observations to target the Opposition.
Soon, a verbal spat broke out between the two sides and Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till 11-30 a.m.
When the House met again, Mr. Kharge said the Opposition was ready for a debate on debating demonetisation and had been continuously requesting for it.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar shot back accusing the Opposition of disrupting the House for 16 days and demanding an apology for this.
BJP veteran L.K. Advani was at one point seen pacifying agitated ruling party members. The Speaker had to adjourn the House till noon.
Earlier, the House recalled the December 13, 2001 terror attack on Parliament and paid tributes to 8 Delhi Police, CRPF and Parliament Security Service personnel who had laid down their lives defending the people inside the complex. The Speaker took up the matter on Friday as the Lok Sabha would not meet on December 13.
