NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday after repeated disruptions by opposition MPs escalated into a ruckus near the treasury benches.
The disruptions led to the cancellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.
The trouble peaked shortly before 5 pm, when the House reassembled amid indications that Modi would speak. Several opposition MPs, including women members, entered the well, raised slogans and moved towards the seats of ruling party members, including the Prime Minister’s chair, prompting sharp allegations from the BJP and concerns over security.
BJP MP Manoj Tiwari alleged that several opposition women MPs moved towards the Prime Minister’s chair and ignored repeated appeals by senior ministers to return to their seats, forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stay away from the Lok Sabha as the situation remained out of control.
Describing the incident as “extremely scary”, Tiwari claimed the women MPs were positioned around the Prime Minister’s seat in a “pre-planned manner” and alleged that their aggressive conduct raised serious security concerns. He said it was only due to the intervention of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju that the situation could be brought under control, adding that the opposition MPs “could even have attacked the Prime Minister”.
The confrontation followed hours of protests by the opposition over Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi being disallowed from quoting the unpublished memoir of former Army chief M M Naravane, leading to multiple adjournments through the day.
Opposition members were raising slogans as P P Chaudhury of the BJP rose to speak on the motion.
Sandhya Rai, chairing the House, adjourned the proceedings within minutes.
Displaying banners and placards, Congress and other opposition members were standing in the Well as well as the aisles.
Earlier, the House was adjourned till 5 pm following an uproar over remarks by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey targeting the Gandhi family.
As the House re-assembled at 2 pm, TDP MP Harish Balayogi resumed his address on the motion of thanks on the President's address.
After Balayogi, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was on the Chair, called on Dubey to speak.
Dubey said that while Rahul Gandhi wants to speak about an unpublished book, he has brought a series of books to expose the Gandhi family.
As Dubey kept listing books and what they said about various members of the Gandhi family, Tenneti said he cannot allow this as the Speaker had already given a ruling, disallowing such comments.
Tenneti cited Rule 349 to not make such remarks. Rule 349 bars members from reading from any book, newspaper or letter except in connection with the business of the House.
As opposition members strongly protested and with Dubey unrelenting, Tenneti adjourned the House till 5 pm.
After the House was adjourned, Congress MPs met Speaker Om Birla to protest the Chair's decision to allow Dubey speak against the Gandhi family.
Outside the Parliament building, Congress MPs demonstrated demanding that Gandhi be allowed to speak on the President's address.
Earlier, proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm following vociferous protests by Opposition members over certain issues related to the unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief M M Naravane.
As soon as the House re-assembled at 12 noon, opposition members were on their feet raising slogans against the government over the issue of the stand-off with China in 2020.
Amid the din, Speaker Birla allowed the laying of parliamentary papers on the table of the House. Later, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal made a statement on the India-US trade agreement.
Congress members had brought banners and posters featuring the former Army chief and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while Rahul Gandhi was seen flashing a book in the House.
Amid the sloganeering, the Speaker urged members to maintain dignity of the House and slammed the opposition members for displaying banners and posters.
As the opposition members were unrelenting, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.
Before that, the House witnessed similar protests during the Question Hour.
Amid the protests, Birla said members should be allowed to ask questions and that everyone should respect the proceedings as well as maintain decorum in the House.
One question and its supplementaries were taken up during the Question Hour that lasted for around five minutes.
As the din continued, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 12 noon.
On Tuesday, eight Opposition members, including seven from the Congress and one from the CPI-M, were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for unruly behaviour.
Since Monday afternoon, the House has been witnessing uproar after Gandhi was disallowed from quoting an article that cited the unpublished "memoir" of Naravane on the 2020 India-China conflict.
