A view of the Lok Sabha as opposition members raise protest in the well of the House, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Source: PTI Photo/TV GRAB)
A day after Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad questioned the government’s role in taking action against those involved in mob lynchings, the Opposition stepped up its attack on the fourth day of the Parliament Monsoon Session.
While the Rajya Sabha witnessed a relatively peaceful Question Hour, Opposition in Lok Sabha registering their protests against the government’s inaction on farmers issues. Consequently, the Lok Sabha had to be adjourned for the day.
Parliament Monsoon Session Live updates:
6:27 pm: Rajya Sabha adjourned till 11 am on Friday.
6:25 pm: INC Karnataka leader RAJEEV Gowda, says anti-discrimination provisions in the housing sector are vaguely formed. Discrimination in real-estate a serious issue that should be addressed.
6:20 pm: INLD Ram Kumar Kashyap requests Panchayati land for the panchayats in villages of Haryana.
6:15 pm: Special mention: AIADMK member AK Selva Raj requests an extension of bypass and National highways in Tamil Nadu.
6:12 pm: BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra says he is not happy with the comments of the BJP leaders. He walks out of the Rajya Sabha.
6:10 pm: ” The way we have historically one section of our own brethren is always a black mark in our history, we owe it to our ourselves to reverse that history: FM Jaitley
6:05 pm: Ghulam Nabi Azad jokes that Arun Jaitley is trying to break opposition unity when the latter talked about the Congress and Left Front in Kerala
6:05 pm: ” The same RSS-BJP men were in Kerala when Oommen Chandy was the chief minister. Not one Congressman was killed or RSS man was killed,” said Arun Jaitley
6:01 pm: One incident takes place and India is branded an intolerant country. We are ahead of many nations in democratic standards, says Arun Jaitley. “Why is that acts of violence in Kerala increase when Left Front comes to power?”
5:52 pm: Countering Jaitley, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, ” I stay in a Muslim majority state Kashmir and Cow slaughter is still banned there. Our problem is not the ban but the lynching that happens in the name of cows.”
5:50 pm: “Violence cannot be seen from a view of partition and only condemning is not the only solution. Arun Jaitley says that wherever acts of violence and lynching have erupted, legal proceedings and charge sheets have been prepared in a systematic way.
5:48 pm: Talking about gau-rakshaks and lynching, Jaitley said PM Modi has always strongly condemned the act of lynching. We should all support each other together fight this. Entrust mutual respect and tolerance.
5:40 pm: “Everyone in the Parliament together spoke against Lynching. Even after Gulam Nabi Azad said that he doesn’t wish to give political colour to any incident but towards the end of his speech he did, ” says Arun Jaitley
4.00 pm: BJP MP from Kerala, Rajeev Chandrasekhar says beef festivals organised around the country were a “great provocation” to the Hindu community. Saying mob lynchings should be punished, he added that “violent crimes shouldn’t have double standards like my colleague Javadekar said”.
Chandrasekhar says the Left was silent when BJP workers were hacked to death in Kannur in Kerala. He claimed that 25 BJP workers were also killed in Karnataka and the Congress government was silent on the issue.
3.30 pm: BJP MP Prabhat Jha in Rajya Sabha: “Our government has come into power and you (D Raja) have started reading international publications like the New York Times?”
3.10 pm: Condemning Javadekar’s statement, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha announced that the Congress is staging a walkout in protest.
3.00 pm: Condemning the mob lynchings as crimes against humanity, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar added: “But along with this we should not fall prey to selective amnesia. In 1984, homes were burnt in Delhi and 3,000 Sikhs were lynched.”
2.40 pm: JD(U) MP Sharad Yadav likened the lynchings to “Talibani” atrocities. He said farmers are being driven towards committing suicide due to the climate of fear. “The climate of fear is making people afraid of travelling in trains, buses,” Yadav said.
2.30 pm: Rajya Sabha reconvenes and Opposition begins discussion on mob lynchings and atrocities against Dalits and minorities. “(Lynchings) have nothing to do with the vigilantes, but it is to do with the Prime Minister. Then, why his statements in 2015, 2016 and 2017 did not have any effect,” Congress leader Kapil Sibal asks. “The ones who do the lynchings are naqli Hindus (fake Hindus),” he says.
He went on to add that restricting the sale of cattle is affecting the livelihood of farmers. “You are killing off Make in India,” Sibal on its impact on the leather industry.
1.38pm: Vice-President Hamid Ansari accepts BSP chief Mayawati’s resignation. The BSP chief had resigned from Rajya Sabha saying she was not allowed to speak on dalit issue.
1.00 pm: The Rajya Sabha is adjourned till 2 pm.
12.46 pm: Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi lists the states which have started putting up cradles for unwanted babies. She also brings to notice that Jharkhand received no babies in the cradles. “In eleven states, we have put up cradles in 265 places. 205 babies were received in the cradles,” she says adding that they will be adopted. “Cradles in front of police stations are not a good idea since people who want to throw their children away, won’t come there.”
12.36 pm: Swaraj also assured Congress MP Chhaya Verma that India is not facing a security threat after the Chhattisgarh MP had asked about China’s assertion in maritime routes.
12.30 pm: Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Aggarwal raises questions over India-China border issues and Doklam standoff. Sushma Swaraj answers saying the trijunction point is supposed to be decided by India, China and third countries, which is Bhutan in this case.”Koi bhi unreasonable baat hamare taraf se nahi horahi hai (We are not making any unreasonable demands)” she says.
12.25 pm: As Opposition leaders continue to protest over the plight of farmers and agrarian crisis looming over India, Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day.
12.20 pm: Vice-president Hamid Ansari continues listening to questions during the Question Hour.
12.13 pm: HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar says the government plans on providing tablets to school children in order to reduce the number of books students have to carry. Congress MP Rajeev Shukla questions how the government plans to achieve this in rural areas.
12.02 pm: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed counter-terrorism efforts at length,” says Sushma Swaraj. The Minister will be making a detailed statement on the issue later.
12.00 pm: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj says PM Modi was successful in convincing Trump to ‘applaud and welcome’ Indian IT professionals in US.
11.57 am: Opposition leaders raise questions over the H1-B visa and ask if Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the issue with US President Donald Trump during his visit.
11.45 am: Lok Sabha adjourned till 12pm as Opposition continues its protest.
11.30 am: Lok Sabha adjourned for 20 minutes amidst opposition sloganeering over farmers’ issue, reports PTI.
11.10 am: In its last demonetisation meeting today, Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, has called Nasscom representatives for a presentation on digital payments and Niti Aayog officials for a presentation on policy related issues.
11. 00 am: Rajya Sabha TV reported that the parliamentary panel on finance is likely to finalise its report on demonetisation of high value currency notes on Thursday.
10.50 am: The Rajya Sabha will continue its discussion on attacks against minorities. On Wednesday senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad had criticised the government for not taking stringent actions against cow vigilantes.
10.45 am: The proceedings in the House will begin at 11 am.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday raised the issue of farmer distress while addressing Kisan Aakrosh Rally in Rajasthan’s Bansawara district. The Gandhi scion pointed out that the government held a midnight session for the passage of the GST Bill. However, it did not raise the issue of farmers in the Parliament.
“They (the government) passed the GST at midnight. Badi dhoom dhaam hui (there was a lot of celebration). We told them this would hurt people. Modiji wants to show the whole world, the President of America that we passed the GST. But this country does not belong to the US President. It belongs to the people of Hindustan, the farmers, the traders,” he said in the rally.
