Protests by the Opposition against imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand led to disruptions in Parliament and adjournment of the Rajya Sabha on Monday, the first day of the session.
Anger over the issue was palpable in Opposition benches in both Houses right from the word go. Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge termed the move a “murder of democracy” with Janata Dal (United) and Aam Aadmi Party members rushing to the well in his support. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the matter was under consideration of the Supreme Court and hence could not be discussed.
“There appears to be a great hurry by the NDA to grab power in every State. Don’t forget there is a Constitution — you could have waited for the March 28 floor test but you imposed President’s Rule on March 27,” Mr. Kharge said. He said the House had recently discussed the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case which was also sub judice.
Biju Janata Dal’s Bhrtruhari Mahtab said his party had also given notice on the issue. “The matter is in court. We will wait for the verdict. We are confident that the court will deliver justice. But we are against arbitrary use of Article 356,” he said.
Internal crisis: RajnathHome Minister Rajnath Singh said “it [President’s Rule in Uttarakhand] is an internal crisis of their [Congress] party,” and welcomed the Speaker’s decision to not allow the issue to be raised in the present format as it was under the consideration of the apex court.
In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad made a scathing attack on the ruling NDA for its actions in various Congress-held States, Uttarakhand being the most recent example.
“I have never seen a government like this which does things during the session or just days before the session so that Parliament does not function,” he said.
He added that during the winter session, the duly elected Arunachal Pradesh government was “brought down” and the Centre did not stop till it installed its own government there.
Mr. Azad said President’s Rule had been imposed in the past also, but never in such a “crude” way. “I congratulate the judges of the Uttarakhand High Court for having the guts to fight the Government of India,” he added.
Leader of the House Arun Jaitley told Congress members to debate the issue when the proclamation comes up for discussion.
“It will come up for discussion before the House. This House will have an opportunity to discuss it. Therefore, when the proclamation comes up, please discuss it. You cannot discuss it at the pre-proclamation stage,” Mr. Jaitley said.
Protests by the Congress members, however, went on and after repeated adjournments, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day.
