The Rajya Sabha witnessed disruption and adjournment on Monday after Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan said the bad days of the government were here.
Ms. Bachchan, who rose to speak on the Narcotics and Drugs Psychotropic Susbtances (Amendment) Bill, 2021 objected to a “personal remark” made by one of the members of the treasury benches against her.
Ms. Bachchan, initiating the speech, accused Bhubaneswar Kalita, who was in the chair of being partisan. “I don’t want to thank you. I don’t know if I should recall the days when you used to sit here (Opposition bench) and troop into the well shouting slogans against the government or now when you are sitting in that chair,” she said.
Mr. Kalita, a former Congress member, resigned and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year.
After Ms. Bachchan’s remark, BJP’s Rakesh Sinha said the Opposition was degrading the House by casting aspersions on the Chair. Earlier she was seen holding a “Save India” placard.
“We want justice. We don’t expect justice from there [pointing to treasury benches], but can we expect it from you? How are you protecting the members of this House or the 12 members sitting outside?” she charged at Mr. Kalita adding that though there were many pressing issues, four hours were allotted to discuss a Bill that seeks to rectify a clerical error.
“What is going on? This is terrible. Who are you [Opposition] protesting against? It all falls on deaf ears. Please sit down, [to the treasury bench] your bad days will be here soon, they don’t let us talk nor allow us to sit in the House. Why don’t you suffocate us to death?” the MP said. She called out one of the members for a nasty remark made against her and her career.
She sought the Chair’s intervention to remove the remarks. “You have to protect the House,” she asked. Mr. Kalita said if she intended to fight this was not the forum.
Following this, there were vociferous protests from the Opposition. “You don’t have any empathy for your colleagues sitting outside, your bad days will be here, I curse you,” Ms. Bachchan signed off. The House was adjourned following the pandemonium.
Earlier the House had seen three more adjournments as Opposition continued to protest against the suspension of 12 MPs and sought the removal of Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra whose son is accused of mowing down farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3.
The NDPS Bill was passed by a voice vote. It was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha on December 13. The Bill replaces an ordinance amending the NDPS Act, 1985.
