Protests by Opposition members alleging a scam in the printing of the new ₹500 notes forced a total washout of proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The government accused them of raising frivolous issues, without giving notice.
Amid continuous slogan-shouting by Congress and the Trinamool Congress members, Rajya Sabha proceedings were suspended six times before being adjourned for the day.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal raised the issue through a point of order, as soon as the House sat at 11 a.m. He said different sizes of the new notes were printed — “one for the ruling party and one for the others”.
“We have today discovered the reason the government did demonetisation,” Mr. Sibal said.
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “This is the biggest scam of this century.”
Despite his party being a BJP ally in Bihar, Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal(U) supported the Opposition parties, saying no country in the world had two notes of different sizes. “One is bigger, one is smaller. I can give signed [copies of the notes],” he said.
‘Frivolous’ issues
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Congress had been raising “frivolous” issues, without giving notices, to stall the zero hour proceedings.
Mr. Jaitley said there was no provision in the rules that anyone could “flash any paper and say it is point of order”. “There is a misuse of zero hour,” he said.
Mr. Jaitley did not reply to the Opposition charge of different size notes
