Parliament Live: The houses have witnessed repeated disruptions since the start of Winter Session
Ahead of today's session the Congress has given an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha and a suspension of business notice in Rajya Sabha. The party's adjournment notice in the lower house comes over Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde's remarks about the constitution. Mr Hegde has said that his party, the ruling BJP, will "soon change the Constitution", which mentions the word "secular". He also attacked what he called a "new fad where people project themselves as secular". However, the BJP has distanced itself from the minister's comment. In the upper house, the Congress has given suspension of business notice under rule 267 over PM Modi's statement against former PM Manmohan Singh and others.
The two houses have witnessed repeated disruptions since the start of Winter Session of Parliament on December 15 over PM Modi's remarks against the former Prime Minister during election campaign in Gujarat with the Congress vociferously raising the issue. While Rajya Sabha has seen daily adjournments, the Congress has been staging protests and walk out in the Lok Sabha.
Here are the live updates from Parliament:
Sushma Swaraj To Speak In Parliament On Kulbhushan Jadhav's Meet With Mother, Wife
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to give a statement in Rajya Sabha tomorrow at 11 am on Kulbhushan Jadhav's meet with his wife and mother in Pakistan's Islamabad, reports news agency ANI. She will also speak on the issue at 12 noon in Lok Sabha.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian sentenced to death in Pakistan, met his wife and mother on Monday, more than a year after he was arrested by the Pakistani army and accused of spying.
Pakistan's foreign office portrayed the brief meeting - coming after months of waiting on the family's visa application - as a grand gesture on the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. India has called the exercise "lacking in any credibility" and said the "overall atmosphere of the meeting was intimidating".
Yesterday, after coming back from Pakistan, Mr Jadhav's wife and mother met Ms Swaraj. A number of officials from the foreign ministry, including foreign secretary S Jaishankar, attended the three-hour meeting.
Apart from the triple talaq bill, which will be introduced in in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, other bills on the government's agenda this week include The High Court and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Condition of Services) Amendment Bill, 2017 and The Representation of the People's (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
Congress Gives Adjournment Notice In Lok Sabha
Congress has given an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha over Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde's remarks about the constitution. Mr Hegde is in the centre of another controversy after he said that his party, the ruling BJP, will "soon change the Constitution," which mentions the word "secular". He attacked what he called a "new fad where people project themselves as secular".
The 49-year-old minister was speaking at a function in Kukanur of Koppal district in Karnataka when he urged people to "claim with pride that they are Muslim, Christian, Lingayat, Brahmin, or a Hindu," adding, "Those who, without knowing about their parental blood, call themselves secular, they don't have their own identity...They don't know about their parentage, but they are intellectuals."
He has also said, "Some people say the Constitution says secular and you must accept it. We will respect the Constitution, but the Constitution has changed several times and it will change in the future too. We are here to change the Constitution and we'll change it."
Congress Gives Suspension Of Business Notice In Rajya Sabha
BJP's Parliamentary Party To Meet Tomorrow; Issues Whip For Lok Sabha MPs
The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill, 2017 may come up for passage in the Lok Sabha today. The bill would replace an ordinance wherein tax rates on various motor vehicles were hiked to a maximum of 25 per cent under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the Bill last week.
Top Court Already Banned Triple Talaq, No Need To Criminalise: CPM
Mr Salim said when Supreme Court has already banned triple talaq, there is no need to bring such a bill. "As far as demanding a ban on the practice of triple talaq is concerned, we have been raising this issue ever since politicians like Narendra Modi had not even heard of the term triple talaq. But we recognise that divorce is a civil matter and there is no need to criminalise it," he said.
The triple talaq bill will be introduced in in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and some repercussions of this may be seen today as well with CPM conveying its intent to oppose the bill. CPM leader Mohammed Salim said that Modi government's move to bring a bill criminalising instant triple talaq was unwarranted and politically motivated.
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