CPI(M) MP K.K. Ragesh in an open letter to Deputy Chairman Harivansh questioned the motive behind allegedly throwing off all rules and Parliamentary procedures aside to ignore the demands for a vote by him and others during the passage of the two farm Bills.
He accused Mr. Harivansh of doing so to appease Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Ragesh along with seven other Opposition MPs were suspended for the pandemonium on Sunday, when the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 were cleared by the Rajya Sabha. The Opposition had then moved a no-confidence motion against Mr. Harivansh, which was rejected by Chairman Venkaiah Naidu.
“It comes as a surprise that a person like you, who claims to be a Socialist, could take a hypocritical position, by totally neglecting the real incidents, towards embracing political equities! As you may be well aware, what happened in the House on 20th September 2020 was the blatant refusal of my right as a Member of Parliament,” Mr. Ragesh wrote. He claims that the statutory resolution rejecting the two Bills moved by him was not voted upon, despite his repeated demands calling for a division.
He also said the Deputy Chairman’s “stubborn attitude” resulted in the blow up. He also accused Mr. Harivansh of acting at the behest of the treasury benches. Mr. Ragesh asked, “Was your decision to allow passing of the Bills amid such a strong protest from members, by maintaining utter disregard to the rules and procedures, was to appease the Prime Minister as well as to get into his good books?”
He also noted in his letter that despite repeated demands the microphones of the Opposition members were not switched on. He also accused Mr. Harivansh of using the physical distancing norms to ram through the legislation. “On what grounds did you charge a member that he did not request for the Chair’s permission by remaining in the seat ‘allotted to him’? Are members given specific seats in this session? Due to obvious reasons of COVID-19 norms of social distancing, MPs are even made to sit in the Lok Sabha Chamber,” Mr. Ragesh wrote.