NEW DELHI: Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday accused the Congress leaders of insulting Rajya Sabha while Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge charged the government with not allowing the Opposition to speak as trading of barbs and protests by the two sides led to a washout of one more day of proceedings.
While the Opposition persisted with its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue, the treasury benches pressed for an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for 'democracy under attack' remarks made in the UK.
Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar declined a point of order raised by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on March 13 in which he objected to a call by the BJP for Gandhi to come to the Upper House and apologise for insulting the Parliament, drawing more protests from the Congress.
Leader of House Piyush Goyal, without naming Gandhi, had demanded an apology for "the shameless way by which a senior leader of the opposition in a foreign country has attacked the democracy of India, insulted the Parliament of India".
Reading out his decision in the midst of slogan shouting by opposition members during the post-lunch session, the Chairman said, "Constitutional 'privilege' of 'freedom of expression' and 'immunity' from any civil or criminal action to Members of Parliament, calls for a high degree of care, caution and accountability."
This unique freedom privilege comes with heavy obligations. Breach of this privilege by engaging in reckless trading of allegations or free fall of information, invectives and innuendos or setting afoot pernicious narratives entail serious consequences, he added.
"The sanctity of the temple of democracy cannot be permitted to be outraged as the privilege does not extend to engaging in demeaning parliament, making disparaging observations tarnishing constitutional institutions or set afloat narratives premised on reckless allegations of untenable fact premise," Dhankhar said.
After due consideration on the matter, he said, "I am of the firm view that there can be no issue or individual beyond the purview of discussion in the Rajya Sabha and the same is exclusively subject to regulation by the House and the Chairman."
He said the two precedents relied upon by Kharge "have no bearing on the issue being determined herein".
Kharge had cited a ruling given by late V V Giri on June 19, 1967 that "a member of one House should not use the freedom of speech on the floor of the House to make allegations or charge against the members of the other House".
The other one was made on March 17, 1983 by the then Vice-Chairman in favour of L K Advani that stated: "Before referring to a member of the other House, one has to exercise a lot of care and caution."
Dhankhar said the authenticated record made available by Goyal, "bears out that his demand of apology on the overseas statements made by a senior leader of the opposition is factually premised and does not graduate to making 'allegation of a defamatory or incriminatory nature'. In view of categorical and firm constitutional prescriptions, I cannot persuade myself to sustain the point of order raised by the Hon'ble Leader of the Opposition Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and the same is hereby declined," the Chairman said.
In response, the Opposition members intensified their sloganeering following which Dhankhar adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier, when the Upper House reassembled at 2 pm after the first adjournment, Reports of the Public Accounts Committee (2022-23) were laid on the table by Bhubaneswar Kalita (BJP) amid sloganeering by opposition members who have been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into allegations against the Adani Group.
Afterward, Dhankhar informed the House that he would give his decision on the point of order raised by Kharge last month even as the Congress leader demanded that he be given a chance to speak.
The Chairman indicated that he would give his decision on the point of order raised by Kharge and give the floor to the Leader of Opposition but the opposition members continued their sloganeering.
However, under the insistence of the opposition members, the Chairman gave the floor to Kharge, drawing protest from the treasury bench.
Kharge said he has been making efforts since morning under rule 267 to raise a few issues in the House but in vain and reiterated that a JPC probe must be conducted on the Adani issue.
Goyal, however, intervened and alleged that the Leader of the Opposition was trying to establish an unfounded matter which is not related to the Upper House and Kharge had no interest in the Chairman's decision on his point of order.
"The real situation is this that they have defamed all the institutions of the country, the House and the Chair and he (Kharge) has also to apologise and his leader who also defamed all the institutions of the country both at home and abroad, be it judiciary, the House or the Election Commission (must apologise)," Goyal asserted.
He condemned the "pressure tactics" of the Congress and said the Leader of Opposition should stop "insulting" the House.
Kharge retorted saying he raised all the issues under established rules but the government is not allowing the Opposition to speak.
Earlier in the day, minutes after the House convened for the day it was adjourned till 2 pm as opposition MPs raised slogans demanding a JPC probe into fraud allegations against the Adani Group.
As the House met for the day, Kharge stood up to speak and was supported by MPs of other opposition parties.
However, Dhankhar asked them to wait till the listed papers were laid on the table of the House.
As the papers were tabled, the sloganeering by several opposition MPs continued.
The sloganeering intensified as the chairman said he had received a notice from Kharge under Rule 267 of Rajya Sabha for suspension of the scheduled business of the day.
As Dhankhar was reading the notice, AAP's Sanjay Singh entered the Well of the House while raising slogans.
Some Congress MPs joined him.
Several Congress MPs were dressed in black as a mark of protest against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha.
Dhankhar warned Singh that he would be named.
Amid the din, the Chairman then adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.
Adani Group stocks took a beating on the bourses after US-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, against the Gautam Adani-led group in a report released in January.
The Adani Group has dismissed the allegations as lies.