Rajya Sabha disrupted for the fourth day

December 18, 2014 04:09 pm | Updated April 07, 2016 04:47 am IST - NEW DELHI

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speaks in the Rajya Sabha during the Parliament's winter session in New Delhi on Thursday. TV grab.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speaks in the Rajya Sabha during the Parliament's winter session in New Delhi on Thursday. TV grab.

The Opposition refused to let go of its demand for a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on religious conversions in the country, forcing the Rajya Sabha to adjourn twice before lunch on Thursday. The stalemate continued for the fourth day, even as Mr. Modi made an appearance in the House of Elders.

Despite the clamour from the Opposition led by the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, demanding a statement from the Prime Minister, senior BJP leaders M. Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley were unwavering in their resolve that the reply to the discussion on conversions will be given by the Union Home Minister. They were resolute that the Opposition cannot set the terms for the discussion.

Speaking in the House Mr. Naidu said the BJP has been in favour of having the discussion, but there is a procedure and a precedent that the Minister in-charge gives the reply.

As soon as the House began, the Opposition MPs reiterated their demand for a statement from the Prime Minister, which led to a heated exchange of words between the Treasury benches and the Opposition.

There was also a fracas when the Left party MPs wanted an apology from BJP's Tarun Vijay, for calling Naxalities “Communist terrorists”. Raising the issue, D. Raja of the CPI objected to the statement and demanded an apology, he was joined in by CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury.

As soon as the Prime Minister arrived in the House a little past 12 noon , the House was adjourned for a second time.

While senior leaders Sharad Yadav (JD-U), Mayawati (BSP), Derek O'Brien (TMC) and Anand Sharma (Congress) kept pressing for a statement by the Prime Minister, Mr. Jaitley said the ruling party was ready to debate the issue immediately, but the Opposition cannot dictate who will reply from the government's side and set the terms and conditions.

“The Prime Minister has made a statement on the demand of the Opposition [following Sadvi Niranjan Jyoti's statement], but for three days thereafter the House was not allowed to function and a new condition was raised. There was a conciliatory response Anand Sharma, but someone [from the Opposition said] said it was not acceptable. A competitive politics of disruption started thereafter.”

With the arguments continuing unabated, Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the House for lunch, observing that there was no consensus on starting the debate.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.