Farmers Movement Archive

Pegasus issue continues to rock monsoon session

It was a day of cut and thrust in the Rajya Sabha, with lawmakers from the Opposition bringing up the Pegasus snooping issue and the contentious farm laws, while they were debating a bill introduced in the House. The day was partially washed away on account of protests by the Opposition, and also saw an exchange between defence minister Rajnath Singh and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.The Opposition’s strategy -- a response to the government’s unwillingness to have a structured debate on the Pegasus controversy, the farm laws, and high fuel prices -- came on a day Prime Minister Modi said at an event that the Opposition was scoring “self-goals”, criticising them openly for the second time in three days. Earlier in the week, the PM said the opposition parties were insulting Parliament.The Opposition’s behaviour was a clear intent of their resolve on raising the three issues -- and analysts said it does not bode well for legislative business, although the government has been able to pass key laws amidst the din in both houses of Parliament.Their strategy saw frequent arguments with the Chair and trouble escalated when defence minister Rajnath Singh brought The Essential Defence Services Bill for approval of the Upper House. When Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh cited House rule no. 110 to disallow CPI(M)’s Elamaram Kareem from speaking on Pegasus, a furious Opposition started protesting and received unexpected support from TRS lawmaker K Kesava Rao.Also read | Modi slams Oppn for ‘insulting’ ParliamentRao told Harivansh, “You have the right to regulate the time. You can’t give me a scripted speech and tell me to read it. I can speak sense and nonsense in this House. It is my right. Now when Kareem is talking about defence and about the secrecy of defence, Pegasus can also be mentioned.”Kareem also argued that Pegasus is related to defence and security.RJD MP Manoj Jha too, mentioned Pegasus, prompting Harivansh to intervene, but the Trinamool Congress cited freedom of speech of the Constitution.There was also an exchange between Singh and Kharge, with the Congress leader claiming that the former said he would try and resolve the issue after his return from Tajikistan.“If there was a proposal from the government about a meeting whether it is the parliamentary affairs minister or Rajnath Singh, we are ready for the discussion,” Kharge added.Singh denied having given any assurance. He said, “I want to make it very clear; I gave no such assurance to Mr. Kharge. However, I called him and requested that there should be peace in the House, that the House should function normally and that all important issues should be discussed.”The government also hit out at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for an attempt by some of the suspended MPs to enter the House after it was adjourned on Wednesday.Speaking to media, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said the TMC MPs should apologise for their conduct in the House because while trying to force their entry into the chambers, they caused injury to a female security guard of Parliament.Joshi also tweeted, “Owing to hooliganism of TMC members, a lady security guard in the Parliament got injured yesterday. This is highly condemnable.” The Chair also made a reference to this incident in the morning.The minister added: “Instead of apologising, (TMC leader) Derek O’Brien is alleging that he was denied entry, post-adjournment. Members of TMC should adopt a better behaviour.”Opposition lawmakers maintained that the Chair was not allowing them to put forth their views while speaking on a bill or during discussion. They alleged that when they referred to any issue which is not directly linked to the bill or topic being discussed, their mikes were being muted.“It was the Opposition’s strategy to raise issues that we have been wanting to speak about in the house. For instance if there is a discussion on the defence bill, it involves national security as does the Pegasus snooping controversy,” said Manoj Jha of the RJD.Two bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha -- one seeking to do away with contentious retrospective tax provisions and another on setting up a central university in Ladakh. Rajya Sabha passed the Essential Defence Services Bill, 2021.

Hindustan Times

06-08-2021

India