NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel meeting on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj had to be postponed abruptly on Tuesday as BJP MPs boycotted its meeting in protest against the presence of activist Medha Patkar and actor-turned-activist Prakash Raj who were invited to appear before the committee.
The meeting saw stormy scenes as former Union minister and BJP MP Parshottam Rupala along with other ruling party MPs stormed out with some calling Patkar as "anti-national".
According to sources, a BJP MP told the meeting that “Prime Minister of Pakistan could have been invited for the meeting."
The panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka was called to discuss the implementation and effectiveness of the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013.
According to sources, within 40 minutes into the meeting, the BJP MPs began protests against the panel's decision to hear activist Medha Patkar, and called her "anti-national".
While a BJP MP told this paper that they were not informed about the deposition of Medha Patkar and Prakash Raj, panel head Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka said that it is a normal practice for a committee to invite civil society members and other stakeholders on various issues.
Speaking to this paper, Ulaka said the Speaker’s office has approved the invitation of 11 activists including Patkar, Prakash Raj and others.
“This is the norm. We send the names of invitees to the Speaker's office so that TA and DA can be arranged and also the entry into the Parliament. The Speaker’s office was appraised 10 days before the meeting. I didn’t get any objection from the Speaker's office," he said.
He said that activists have been invited in the previous meetings as well.
“The meeting was on land acquisition Act of 2013. We have had 15 meetings on the issue. When we have meetings, we invite other ministry officials because this Act supersedes 13 other departments Act,” he added
The protests by the ruling MPs was unexpected, said the Congress MP.
“When the meeting started, they started objecting that Medha is ant national and why don’t you call the PM of Pakistan etc. They walked out though we tried to reason with them. I told them that we must listen to the stakeholders and what goes into the records is the committee's prerogative,” he said, adding that the meeting has to be postponed due to the lack of quorum.
Asked about the incident, Patkar said she was invited to appear before the panel, and while she and others were waiting, they saw some MPs leave.
Later, they were informed that the meeting had ended, she added. Patkar said she has appeared before parliamentary committees earlier as well.