It was the turn of the ruling Congress members today to troop into the well of the Rajya Sabha and force its adjournment not once but twice. The reason: not allowed to raise the issue of certain anti-Dalit remarks being attributed to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.Their conduct later led the BJP to demand an apology from the Leader of the House.
In fact, BJP leader Najma Heptullah recalled that during her 17 years as Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, treasury benches had never got the House adjourned. “This is unprecedented,” she said.
Interestingly, when Opposition parties had stalled Parliament proceedings over alleged phone tapping of leaders on Monday, it was a very preachy Congress that accused its political rivals of ignoring “national interest” in an attempt to score political brownie points. “Disruption and obstruction leading to adjournment of Parliament for the day is not in national or public interest,” party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi reasoned, armed with the question: “What purpose does it serve to disrupt Parliament.”
However, even as Singhvi berated the Opposition on its “behaviour” in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on that day, he was not so convincing when asked whether his party had done the right thing by disrupting proceedings of the Lok Sabha when BJP’s Yashwant Sinha was speaking on the killing of security personnel in Chhattisgarh. “A distinction has to be drawn between temporary disruption and adjournment for the entire day,” was his logic on whether the ruling party should have resorted to such an exercise.
Today it was senior Congress member Praveen Rashtrapal who wanted to raise the issue during zero hour in the House. Denying the permission, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan said the notice had not been admitted by the Chairman. Rashtrapal was joined by other members of his party, including JD Seelam, Alka Balram Kshatriya and Ishwar Singh, in the protest.
An agitated Rashtrapal, who stormed the well, insisted that he be allowed to raise the matter. He said the Gujarat Chief Minister had “humiliated” Dalits and BR Ambedkar. Sensing the mood of the treasury benches, Khan adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
During the adjournment period, Congress members were seen holding discussion with Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan. When the House resumed, Rahman Khan called P Rajeev of the CPM for his zero hour mention but Rashtrapal and his colleagues again stormed the well, forcing the Deputy Chairman to adjourn the House till 2 pm.
Outside the House, Rashtrpal said he has been denied the opportunity to raise the matter despite repeated attempts. “The entire world knows about Modi. In his statement while releasing a book ‘Samajik Samrasta’ on April 26, he had said Ambedkar was not a revolutionary… Modi also compared Dalits to mentally-retarded children,” he was quoted as saying. He added that he would raise the issue again on Monday
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