New Delhi, Dec 17: The uproar over reported religious conversion and comments by members from the ruling BJP continued to rock the Rajya Sabha for the third consecutive day Wednesday, forcing several adjournments and stalling proceedings.
The government, however, managed to introduce in the house a bill to make stringent laws on hijacking, even as opposition members raised slogans.
The upper house, where the government is in minority, earlier lost nearly five days of government business over a row on minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s comments, and is lagging far behind the Lok Sabha in transacting government business.
The session which started Nov 24 ends Dec 23, and has just four working days left.
Congress leader Anand Sharma made it clear that the party will not let the house function unless Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes.
The opposition was also upset that the prime minister made a comment on the issue at a meeting of the BJP’s parliamentary board, but did not come to the house.
“Does the prime minister need a visa to come to this house?” asked Trinamool Congress member Derek O’Brien.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi called the comment “unacceptable”.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said: “When the prime minister is in parliament, why not accept the opposition’s demand and come to the house?”
The house saw repeated adjournments and angry exchanges, as both the ruling and the opposition parties blamed each other for the disruptions.
Chairman Hamid Ansari suspended Congress member V. Hanumantha Rao for the day as he went up to his podium and raised slogans.
The protests started as soon as the house met, with Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal raising a point of order.
“We read in the papers that some policy decisions were made in the parliamentary party meet of the BJP,” Agarwal said, referring to the prime minister’s warning to party members not to cross the “Lakshman Rekha” (limits) in their statements.
“If his ministers are making some mistake, it is his responsibility to say it in the house,” Agarwal said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rejected the charge that any policy decision was taken.
“The prime minister has not made any policy decision in the meet. But I have a point of order. In the name of point of order, can Naresh Agarwal every day raise a point of disorder?” the finance minister said.
Congress leader Pramod Tiwari again raised a point of order on the same issue.
“We are just telling the prime minister ‘your people are creating disharmony in the country’. If he is accepting some ministers are crossing Lakshman Rekha… let him tell which Lakshman Rekha is being crossed,” Tiwari said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury also raised the issue, saying he wanted to raise a “point of disorder”.
Anand Sharma complained that the opposition members were not being allowed to speak.
As opposition members raised the pitch demanding Modi’s presence, treasury benches members too added to the din.
Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien adjourned the house till noon.
At noon, the opposition members again refused to allow question hour to be taken up.
Agarwal urged the chair to accept his notice to suspend business and take up the discussion.
However, Chairman M. Hamid Ansari rejected the notice as “redundant” as a discussion on communal situation in the country was already listed in the upper house.
With ruckus continuing, the upper house was adjourned twice for 15 minutes during the question hour, and then till 2 p.m.
Similar scenes continued when the house met again, and opposition members refused to take up the debate without the prime minister being present in the house.
After nearly 40 minutes, which saw angry exchanges, the house was adjourned for the day.
Outside the house as well, the government and the opposition blamed each other for the disruptions.
“The issue was listed for discussion today, but the opposition parties did not allow the home minister to speak. There is no panic situation in the country on conversion and opposition parties are unnecessarily making it an issue,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.
Replying to a question on bringing an anti-conversion law, Naidu said there was “no such proposal so far”.
“A broad consensus is required to move forward in this direction,” he said.
The Congress, however, said the opposition will not let the house function without the prime minister’s presence.
“There is a wide attempt to spread communal tension and towards polarisation. The prime minister needs to tell us what is being done, to stop that. The prime minister should listen to the opposition and answer their questions about what his party is doing,” Anand Sharma said.
“Unless the prime minister gives assurance to the country on the conversion issue, we will not allow the house to function,” he said.
The opposition has been protesting against recently reported incidents of conversion of Muslims to Hinduism, and also BJP parliamentarian Yogi Adityanath’s comment supporting a mass conversion programme.
Adityanath reportedly said there was nothing wrong if people re-convert to Hinduism if they were doing it willingly. (IANS)
