NEW DELHI:
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP
Derek O'Brien and BJP leader
Smriti Irani engaged in a verbal slugfest over the
triple talaq bill in the
Rajya Sabha on Thursday, which forced the adjournment of the House for the day.
As the government refused to recognise the motion moved by Congress MP Anand Sharma referring the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 to the Select Committee, O'Brien said the Centre was deliberately sidelining the triple talaq bill and this exposed their disinterest in women empowerment.
"It is clear that this side (opposition) wants to empower women, and you (government) stand exposed," O'Brien declared.
This elicited a fiery reaction from Smriti Irani, who leapt to her feet and demanded that opposition parties should put an end to their disruptive ways and engage in consensus-building discussion over the triple talaq bill.
"Absolutely not, if you seriously want to empower women then have a discussion now," the BJP MP fired back.
Deputy chairman P J Kurien adjourned the house amid bedlam as the government and the opposition couldn't come to a consensus on the contentious bill.
With no agreement, the government placed the bill in the bottom of priority in the list of business, which the opposition strongly objected to and demanded that its motions for referring the bill to a Select Committee be taken up immediately.
Leader of the House
Arun Jaitley questioned the validity of the opposition's motion, stating that the statutory requirement of 24 hours advance notice was not given. He also stated that the work of a Select Committee was to improve a bill and a "saboteur" cannot be a part of the panel.
"A saboteur of a bill can never be on the select committee. It is a parliamentary proceeding. As such they would be disqualified from being a part of it," he said.
Members of the Opposition strongly registered their protest to this, at which deputy chairman P J Kurien intervened. Brushing aside Jaitley's objections, Kurien stated that the motion had been allowed by chairman Venkaiah Naidu and he had no powers to change the decision.
"If there were technical defects in the motion, the Secretariat should have gone into it. Once a motion is moved, it is a property of the House, I can't ask to withdraw or amend the motion. Since the Chairman has admitted the motions, I have no role to play in it," Kurien explained.
However, after giving the ruling, Kurien said on priority in finalising the list of business, the government has the final say and cannot give precedence to triple talaq bill over a GST legislation listed before that.
This led to heated exchanges between Derek O'Brien and Smriti Irani, leading to uproar and subsequent adjournment of the House.
