Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman writes to President of anguish at incidents on September 20.
New Delhi: The controversy over the new agri laws and the Opposition’s protest over the manner they were enacted yesterday without, as alleged by the Opposition, the division of the votes, continued for the second day today with the Opposition walking out of both the Houses of Parliament. The Opposition has decided to boycott the rest of the Monsoon session and decided to take the fight of the farmers to the streets.
Yesterday eight Rajya Sabha MPs — Rajeev Satav, Syed Naseer Hussain and Ripun Bora (Congress), Dola Sen and Derek O’Brien (Trinamool Congress), KK Ragesh and Elamaram Kareem (Communist Party of India -Marxist) and Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party) — were suspended for the remaining part of the current session over their “misbehaviour” with the deputy chairman, Harivansh, during the passage of the farm bills.
The two ordinances – Farmers’ and Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 – were passed by a voice vote yesterday after they were presented by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the Upper House.
Today despite the boycott call on all proceedings, the Rajya Sabha continued to carry on with the debate on the third farm bill, which subsequently got passed by early afternoon. The house has still two more days till the monsoon session gets adjourned for the current proceedings.
However, giving a dramatic twist to the whole episode, Harivansh, today morning brought tea for these eight MPs in an unsuccessful attempt to placate them. These MPs had sat in protest the whole night inside Parliament.
Harivansh later wrote a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, in which accused members of tearing the Rajya Sabha Rule Book and throwing it at him, of stomping on the table of officials, and shouting unparliamentary and abusive slogans., he announced a 24-hour fast in hope that this will instill the sense of “aatmashuddhi” (self purification) in the heart of these MPs.
His gesture was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted: “To personally serve tea to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago as well as those sitting on Dharna shows that Shri Harivansh Ji has been blessed with a humble mind and a big heart. It shows his greatness. I join the people of India in congratulating Harivansh Ji.”
However, countering Modi’s tweet, Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma tweeted: “After brazenly violating rules, procedures and practices for passing bills and making laws, the Deputy Chairman is shedding crocodile tears for Parliamentary democracy. Token fast is nothing but a farce. Hypocrisy will not wash away the sin of doing injustice to India’s farmers.” Congress’s Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh, linked the whole episode the impending Bihar Assembly elections and tweeted: “The shadow of the forthcoming Bihar elections has fallen over Parliament now. It is all very well for constitutional authorities to demand respect. They must, in fact, command respect by their non-partisan actions.”
– globalbihari bureau
