The Rajya Sabha was adjourned thrice on Tuesday as the BJP and the Congress sparred over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s "scam India to skilled India" remark during his recent foreign tour.
After hearing opposition party leaders, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien gave the ruling that Congress member Anand Sharma’s notice under Rule 267 for suspension of the Zero Hour was "disallowed".
"The member can invoke procedures and rules under different provisions to raise the matter," he said, triggering a strong protest from the Congress benches with several members trooping into the Well of the House raising slogans.
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Earlier the House witnessed heated exchange of words between the treasury and opposition benches with Mr. Sharma and Sharad Yadav (JD-U) observing that the Prime Minister had lowered the "prestige and dignity" of the country by his observations in a foreign land.
Rejecting the charge, Leader of the House and Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the Prime Minister was "perfectly entitled" to say that his government will break away from what happened in the last 60 years.
Taking a dig at both, the JD (U) and CPI-M, he wondered whether they did not think that the prestige of the country was lowered by "acts of corruption" rather than by references to those acts.
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"I am surprised at this new-found dialectics of the morals of the Marxist Party that India is not defamed by acts of corruption [but] India is defamed when you refer to those acts of corruption," he said.
As Congress members continued to noisily raise the slogan, " Pradhan Mantri jawab do ( PM should answer )" , Mr. Kurien to adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
When the House reassembled to take up the Question Hour, the uproar continued. Chairman Hamid Ansari advised Congress members not to pursue the matter as the Chair had already given its ruling on it, but was forced to adjourn the House for 15 minutes.
When the House met again, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Muktar Abbas Naqvi said the government was willing to discuss the matter under appropriate provisions to which Mr. Sharma said that there had been enough discussions on "scams... We are talking about the conduct of the Prime Minister."
Mr. Jaitley said whether a scam is discussed inside Parliament or outside, today’s technology —the internet — will take it everywhere. "So please don’t be concerned about the fact that you can discuss a scam here and it won’t go outside."
This led to loud protests from the Congress and Mr. Ansari adjourned the House till after lunch.