Farmers Movement Archive

Stormy Sunday in House as 2 farm bills go through

New Delhi The government rushing through two contentious farm bills, and fierce protests from the Opposition — senior leaders charged towards the seat of deputy chairman Harivansh, who was presiding over the proceedings; jumped onto tables; and shot videos of the ruckus — turned the Rajya Sabha into a battleground on Sunday.The authorities called in marshals to form a double-layered barricade to protect Harivansh and remove an MP, muted live telecast of the proceedings, and refused to accept the Opposition’s demand for a division (voting through paper ballots) on the legislation.The two agricultural reform bills — the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 — were cleared by voice vote in Parliament even as the Opposition protested and stormed the well of the House seeking that they be sent to a select committee. The high-pitch protests were the most aggressive in recent years, and continued even after the House was adjourned at 1pm. Opposition parties sat in the Rajya Sabha after the House was adjourned and drafted a no-confidence motion against Harivansh, who was elected deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha on September 14, the opening day of the curtailed monsoon session, before posting comments and releasing videos on Twitter.Among the leaders who were seen on camera protesting near the chairperson’s desk were DMK leader T Siva, TMC MP Derek O’Brien, the Congress’s KC Venugopal and the AAP’s Sanjay Singh. Some other Opposition members were seen tearing pages, and rushing to the chairman’s desk to protest.“If Babasaheb Ambedkar was alive, he would have hung his head in shame seeing what tactics BJP used today, in an Independent India, to forcefully pass bills pertaining to farmers. Only a heartless and anti-farmer government like the colonial British can do this,” said senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel outside Parliament.The BJP hit back and slammed the “intolerance” of opposition parties. “The Opposition has showed height of intolerance in Parliament today. They think of themselves as baadshah (kings). We condemn the unruly behaviour of the Opposition and we will never budge to such threats,” said parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi.The Narendra Modi government had brought amendments to three farm bills through ordinances in June to unleash reforms in agriculture and allow farmers more flexibility in selling their produce. Many experts had hailed the reforms as significant, but some farmer bodies and opposition parties alleged that the new laws would only benefit corporate entities and traders but not the farmers.Prime Minister Modi later described the passage of the bills — they now need to be signed by the President to be ratified as laws — a “watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture”.“Congratulations to our hardworking farmers on the passage of key bills in Parliament, which will ensure a complete transformation of the agriculture sector as well as empower crores of farmers,” the PM tweeted.In the House on Sunday morning, the trouble started when the allotted time to discuss the two bills was reduced from four hours to three-and-a-half hours. Opposition leaders including the TMC’s O’Brien and DMK’s Siva gave notices to send the bills to a select committee of Parliament, but the government rejected the demand.Their second demand — for a division on the bills — too was rejected as the government was in a hurry to clear the bills amid indications that the monsoon session may be cut short because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ruckus began when agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar was replying in the House and the chair announced that the voting will be conducted the same day. The government side said the Opposition disrupted the House. It also said as per rules, division can’t take place amid ruckus. Trinamool floor leader O’ Brien, quoting the rulebook, later said, “This was clear breach of parliamentary procedure. You can’t brazenly break the rule and expect us to sit in our seats as you murder democracy.”Before the commotion erupted, several opposition parties including the Biju Janata Dal, which is considered friendly to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), urged the government to consider the option of sending the bills to a select committee. The government’s ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, has already put on record its opposition to the bills; and the only minister from the party in the cabinet, Harsimrat Kaur, resigned in protest last week. Outside of the NDA, the YSR Congress Party that has six MPs in the House and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which has nine MPs, supported the government. As the government tried to push the bills through, the Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh, Trinamool’s Dola Sen and other MPs started raising slogans. Soon, other parties joined them and surrounded the Chair.Four motions to send the two bills to a House panel for greater scrutiny were negated by voice vote, but the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members sought a division of votes on the issue. The chair pointed out that the division can only be done once the House is in order and the MPs in their respective seats.The Opposition alleged that Rajya Sabha TV chose to show only the floor of the Lok Sabha, where some Upper House members were present in line with new seating arrangements. Audio of the channel, too, was muted, they alleged.Quickly realising that their protests would not be recorded on the channel, Opposition MPs started taking videos of the action, which is not allowed on the floor of the House. While the government blamed the Opposition for not seeking a division of votes; a few opposition MPs said they had put forth the demand, but it was not accepted. “The government had the numbers, we were sure of getting about 120 votes in favour. If the Opposition was confident of the numbers, it should have sought a division,” said a BJP MP on condition of anonymity. The MP added that over 20 bills have to be taken up for discussion during the ongoing session of Parliament, which leaves little time for discussion.Outside Parliament, the Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the bills should not have been passed, as the voice of the members seated in the Lok Sabha could not be heard in the Rajya Sabha because of the din. The ruckus that ensued in the House brought back memories of the pandemonium that erupted when the Women’s Reservation Bill was tabled in Parliament. In May 2008, when the Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha, there were scuffles and pushing and jostling by members. Samajwadi party MPs tore up the bill, after snatching it from the then law minister HR Bhardwaj. During HD Deve Gowda’s regime, when then law minister M Thambidurai introduced the bill in July 1998, RJD MPs who went to the well of the House, snatched it from speaker GMC Balayogi and tore it to bits. In 2013, five Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh announced they would sit in for a 48-hour-long protest at the main entrance of Parliament to push for the creation of a separate state of Telangana. A year later, the Lok Sabha was disrupted when pepper spray was used in the House following a ruckus over the introduction of the Telangana bill. Congress member L Rajagopal, who was protesting against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, had carried the spray into the House, which led to several MPs needing treatment. In 2015, the Lok Sabha against saw scenes of disruption play out when Congress members tore papers and threw them towards then deputy speaker M Thambi Durai. The Congress was protesting over the issue of Lalit Modi, the fugitive Indian businessman and cricket administrator, and alleged irregularities in the conduct of an examination and MP government recruitment. P Sreedharan, former secretary general, Lok Sabha, said, “Expression of protest in a proper manner is legitimate in a Parliamentary democracy. But it should not degenerate to unruly demonstrations.”.

Hindustan Times

21-09-2020

India