Dressed in black to protest the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Opposition members in the Lok Sabha on Monday created an uproar by trooping into the Well, with two Congress members seen hurling papers towards Speaker Om Birla’s chair.
Congress’ T.N. Pratapan and Hibi Eden, who were in the Well holding placards, hurled order papers towards the Chair along with their scarves.
A visibly upset Mr. Birla immediately adjourned proceedings until 4 p.m. as the chaos persisted over Mr. Gandhi’s disqualification and the Adani issue. “I want to run the House with dignity,” the Speaker said.
As soon as the House met for the day, Congress members as well leaders of other Opposition parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and National Conference (NC), stood up and raised slogans.
Opposition MPs were carrying placards that read “Save Democracy”, “Dear ED daro mat, Adani par raid karo (ED don’t be scared, raid Adani)“ while shouting slogans in the Well of the House. When the House reassembled at 4 p.m. to pass an amendment to the Finance Bill, there was intense sloganeering by Congress members over the Adani issue.
There were protests outside the House as well as hundreds of members, led by Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Srinivas B.V., tried to march towards the Parliament as part of their Sansad gherao (‘surround Parliament’) protests at Jantar Mantar here. Later, IYC workers courted arrest and were taken by the Delhi Police to a nearby police station.
The protests came a day after the Congress had organised a day-long ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Raj Ghat, during which Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and invoked the martyrdom of the Gandhi family.
Juxtaposing his sister’s fiery speech with images of himself carrying his late father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s bier, on his Instagram account, Mr. Gandhi said: “Truth, courage and sacrifice - this is our heritage and this is also our strength”.
Congress will organise 35 press conferences across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday under its ‘Democracy Disqualified’ series.
