NEW DELHI: The winter session of Parliament, which saw unprecedented clashes between the Opposition and the ruling BJP, came to a close on Friday with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar cautioning the members to maintain dignity and decorum of the Houses.
Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die amid protests by the Opposition and treasury benches over the alleged insult to B R Ambedkar and directions by Speaker Om Birla to members against holding protests at any gate of Parliament.
While Lok Sabha’s productivity was 57.87% in 20 days, passing four bills, the corresponding figure for the Rajya Sabha was 40.03% in 19 days and the passage of three bills.
The session may perhaps go down in parliamentary history for setting a grim record for several reasons — from an ugly scuffle and a no-trust motion against Dhankhar to a bitter discourse on Constitution and daily disruption of proceedings by both sides.
The highlight of the session — a two-day debate on the 75th year of Constitution — snowballed into a major confrontation between the BJP and the Congress over Union home minister Amit Shah’s comment on Ambedkar. During his speech on the Constitution, he said, “It has become the new fashion to say ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. Had they chanted God’s name as many times, they would have found a place in heaven.”
The scuffle outside Parliament led to an FIR against Rahul Gandhi after the BJP filed assault charges against him. With both the Congress and the BJP escalating the issue outside Parliament, it is bound to gain more traction and dominate the narrative in the forthcoming Delhi and Bihar assembly elections.
Special police team for rahul case
A special team of the Delhi Police is expected to take over the probe into the FIR filed against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly ‘assaulting’ BJP MPs, sources said. Given the conflicting claims, the team plans to call MPs present during the scuffle to piece together the sequence of events. The police will examine CCTV footage and speak to the injured MPs | P9