Both the Houses of Parliament on Monday witnessed repeated adjournments as the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) crossed swords on the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) rally at Ayodhya.
There were also wordy duels between the two parties on the attack on the SP office in Delhi on Sunday evening.
While SP floor leader Mulayam Singh Yadav accused the BJP of not having respect for the judiciary, which had ordered for maintaining status quo in the disputed structure at Aydohya, or not following the constitutional provisions, BJP's Yogi Adityanath hit him back charging that his (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh was preventing people’s fundamental right of freedom of worship.
Raising the issue during the zero hour, Mr. Yadav even charged the BJP of indulging in hooliganism and referred to the attack on the SP’s party office in Delhi on Sunday. “We know how to stop hooliganism. We have stopped it in the past," he thundered, accusing the BJP of engineering riots.
As the BJP had no support left they were looking for excuses. “There is no vote bank left with them so they want riots. They should stop vote bank politics. People are not supporting them. Saints have also condemned them,” Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav alleged.
Mr. Adityanath claimed that the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had declared the disputed place as the birthplace of Lord Ram and the Saints had been demanding a law for the purpose. The sadhus, who proposed to take out a peaceful rally, were baton charged and humiliated by the SP government. Hindus were harassed.
The BJP member jibed at Mr. Yadav by wanting to know what kind of socialism the latter and his party (SP) was following when all the important posts were occupied by his family members.
In the Rajya Sabha, as soon as the House met, SP members raised the issue of attack of their office in Delhi by the BJP workers, only to be countered by the BJP MPs.
Chairman Hamid Ansari’s repeated efforts to restore order went unheeded forcing him to adjourn the House for 15 minutes initially and later till noon.
When the House re-assembled some of the SP members stood in the aisle raising slogans against the BJP. They were demanding action against those who allegedly attacked the party’s Delhi office. Even the party’s leader in the House, Ramgopal Yadav was on his feet. After tabling of papers, Deputy Chairman P.K. Kurien adjourned the House till 2 pm.
Later Mr. Ramgopal Yadav told journalists outside the House that he would normally be in the Delhi office at that hour but it being Sunday yesterday, the office was closed. ``They pulled off the party sign-board and tried to break down the gate’’, he said.
Charging the BJP and Congress of ``collusion’’in the matter, party MP Naresh Agarwal said, ``Delhi is ruled by the Congress and no action has been taken so far against the culprits.’’
Reacting to the frequent adjournments, BSP leader Mayawati told journalists: ``it is a fixed match between the BJP and Congress.’’
