Farmers Movement Archive

Aggressive, violent acts tarnish House: Rajnath

The government on Sunday said it strongly condemned the “aggressive and violent behaviour” by opposition members towards the Rajya Sabha vice-chairman during the debate to pass the two farm bills in the Rajya Sabha. Addressing a press conference along with several of his colleagues, defence minister Rajnath Singh said: “Whatever happened was against parliamentary dignity. It has delivered a big blow. Rule books were torn, other important papers were torn. Mikes were snatched. Opposition members were in the well and attempts were made to climb on the vice-chairman’s chair.” He was joined by his colleagues Prakash Javadekar, Pralhad Joshi, Piyush Goyal, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Mukhtar Abbas Naqwi. “I would go to the extent of saying that it was extremely shameful,” Singh added.Parliament witnessed chaos during the voice vote to pass the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. Opposition members, claiming that their demand for a division of votes were being ignored, attempted to stall the proceedings and raised slogans in the well of the house, leading to an adjournment for 10 minutes. “Such an incident has never happened in the history of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. It is all the more unfortunate that this happened in Rajya Sabha, which is known as the house of elders,” Singh said. At a press conference in the evening, Singh said the opposition was trying to mislead farmers. “Neither minimum support prices (MSPs) nor agricultural produce market committees are going to be ended. Our government has increased MSPs and they will never be ended under any circumstances,” Singh said. On the issue of a no-confidence motion planned by the opposition against deputy chairman Harivansh, Singh said: “Notice has gone. Chairman will decide. It is his prerogative.” On the resignation of Shiromani Akali Dal minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Singh said there were political reasons behind it and he would not like to comment on it. “There was full discussion from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm. Even if one were to assume that the opposition was being ignored, is there are right to get violent and attack the deputy chairman?” On the question of opposition MPs seeking a division of votes and being ignored, minister of minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the deputy chairman kept urging opposition MPs to go to their seats and demand a division vote.The Congress party condemned Singh’s statement. “It is unfortunate that the defence minister justified the actions of the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman and the procedure adopted during the debate on bills,” said Congress general secretary KC Venugopal. He said the Congress and other opposition parties will not accept this and take this issue to the people. Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien, who was seen on camera flashing the rule book at the chair later, said the MPs were forced to record the bedlam as the live coverage of the House was disrupted. He also denied ripping apart the rule book and said, “ Many opposition members wanted the bill to go for further examination. These bills were brought in as an ordinance. There hasn’t been any scrutiny of these bills.”In a video message, O’Brien said, “Yes, some MPs broke the microphone, what do you want them to do sit on the seat and have a lollipop? This was a protest and I was part of it.” He said the MPs were forced to tape the proceedings on their phones since the Rajya Sabha television was being “censored”. Referring to the commotion inside the House, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted that all the parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had agreed to a four hour discussion on the two bills. “…This was unilaterally cut short by the government’s floor managers by almost 45 minutes. This was the starting point for the chaos in the Parliament this afternoon.” “The dictatorial attitude of the Chair in not wanting to get a sense of the House, which is the convention to extend the session beyond the scheduled 1 pm, led to bedlam & chaos. The anti-farmer Bills were passed in the din without voting. Why the tearing urgency? On whose orders?” the Congress MP said.

Hindustan Times

21-09-2020

India