Members of Congress, DMK and Shiv Sena protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue inside the Parliament premises on Friday. (Photo: PTI)Parliament Monsoon Session Highlights: The Lok Sabha was adjourned till Monday over protests by Opposition parties over the Pegasus row. It all started after Trinamool Congress’s Santanu Sen was suspended from the Parliament’s Monsoon Session on Friday, a day after he snatched and tore the Pegasus statement of IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, hitting out at the government on the Pegasus snooping scandal, Rahul Gandhi, while addressing reporters from outside the Parliament, said the Pegasus spyware “is a weapon classified by Israeli states to use against terrorists”. “PM and home minister have used Pegasus against us. This has to be investigated and the home minister must resign,” he added.
Both Houses of the Parliaments were adjourned on Thursday following sloganeering by opposition members over various issues, including the farm laws and the Pegasus snooping case.
Opposition MPs, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led protests against the newly implemented farm laws at the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament’s premises on Thursday. For the first time since the vandalism at Red Fort on January 26, a small group from among the farmers camping at Delhi’s borders were allowed to enter the city to commence a protest at Jantar Mantar.
Outside the Parliament, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that if farmer unions pointed out their objections to the provisions of the three farm laws they were protesting against, the government would be ready to discuss them with an “open mind”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the Parliament to address the media on the first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday. (Photo: PTI)
Rajya Sabha proceedings adjourned for the day amid uproar by opposition parties over Pegasus snooping row.
The Joint Committee of Parliament (JCP) examining the Personal Data Protection Bill was on Friday given an extension till the Winter Session to submit its report. The JCP was constituted in the Lok Sabha in December 2019 and was expected to submit its report in the Budget Session.
P P Chaudhary of the ruling BJP on Friday moved a motion seeking extension up to the Winter Session of Parliament for the 30-member panel to submit its report. "That this House do extend up to the first week of Winter session of Parliament, 2021, the time for the presentation of the report of the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019," the motion read. (PTI)
As you (TMC MP Santanu Sen) know that a resolution has been passed to suspend you from attending the proceedings till the end of the Monsoon session, we request you to leave the House: Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Harivansh.
IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, while reacting to TMC MP Santanu Sen tearing his Pegasus statement, said, "TMC has a culture of violence in Bengal. They're trying to bring the same to the Parliament. What message do they want to give to the next generation of Parliamentarians?”
Lok Sabha adjourned till Monday, July 26, amid uproar and protests in the House over 'Pegasus Project' media reports and other issues. (ANI)
My phone was tapped. It's not a matter of Rahul Gandhi's privacy. I'm an Opposition leader and I raise the voice of the people. This is an attack on voice of the people. Home Minister should resign and there should be a Supreme Court inquiry against Narendra Modi: Rahul Gandhi on 'Pegasus'
Prime Minister Modi has asked many times not to politicise the vaccination programme. It's our aim to vaccinate every 18+ citizen of the country. This is not the time to do politics: Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Lok Sabha
Santanu Sen, please withdraw from House, allow the House to function, says Rajya Sabha Chairman and adjourns House till 12 pm following an uproar that started during TMC MP Derek O'Brien's statement over yesterday’s incident.
Trinamool Congress' Santanu Sen suspended from parliament session day after he snatched Pegasus statement from IT minister. (PTI)
We've two agendas: Citizen’s data privacy and security and cybersecurity. This issue (Pegasus Project media report) comes under these agendas. Standing committee has the right to question government secretaries. We demand a sitting SC judge-led judicial probe: Congress's Shashi Tharoor.
Congress, DMK, and Shiv Sena MPs protest against the 'Pegasus Project' in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue inside the Parliament premises.
Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal, deputy leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and MoS Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan meet Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu over yesterday’s incident wherein TMC MP Shantanu Sen snatched a paper from the hands of IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and tore it. (ANI)
Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda has submitted a suspension of business notice in the Rajya Sabha over farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws.
On Friday, three BJP Lok Sabha members and one from the JD(U) will move Private Members’ Bills on population control. Out of the four only BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Ravi Kishan is from Uttar Pradesh, which is also in the process of drafting a state population control Bill. Incidentally, Kishan is the father of four children — three daughters and a son.
No further details, however, were made available regarding Kishan’s Bill in the Lok Sabha’s updated list of Private Members’ Business. And the Bill proposed by Kishan’s party colleague from Bihar, Sushil Kumar Singh, seeks to set up a “National Population Planning Authority at the national level and a District Population Planning Committee in each district to encourage and promote family planning in order to ensure a population which is in tandem and commensurate with the resources and development of our nation”. (Read Leela Prasad's report)
Congress MP Manickam Tagore has submitted an Adjournment Motion notice in the Lok Sabha over the 'Pegasus Project' issue.
For the first time since the vandalism at Red Fort on January 26, a small group from among the farmers camping at Delhi’s borders were allowed to enter the city to commence a protest at Jantar Mantar on Thursday.
Outside Parliament, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that if farmer unions pointed out their objections to the provisions of the three farm laws they were protesting against, the government would be ready to discuss them with an “open mind”. (Read Jignasa Sinha and Ashna Butani's report)
The Pegasus row continued to rock Parliament with Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday making a statement in the Rajya Sabha denouncing reports that the spyware could have been used to snoop on Opposition leaders, activists and others, and the Opposition forcing repeated adjournments of the House.
The afternoon session of the Upper House witnessed some charged moments as Opposition MPs led by Trinamool MP Santanu Sen rushed to the well of the House and tore the minister’s statement. When the House met at 2 pm, after two earlier adjournments, Deputy Chairman Harivansh called for the IT Minister to present his statement before the Rajya Sabha. As Vaishnaw rose to speak, the House erupted in slogans of “Jasoosi band karo, band karo (stop spying)’’. (Read Esha Roy's report)
BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday slammed TMC members for snatching papers from Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in Rajya Sabha and tearing them, saying their conduct was against democratic values and condemnable.
"TMC has a long history of working against the dignity of Parliament. Making noise, tearing papers are their culture. The BJP strongly opposes this," he tweeted.
A Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP snatched papers from Communications and Information Technology Minister Vaishnaw in Rajya Sabha on Thursday and tore those as the minister was about to make a statement on the alleged snooping row using Israeli spyware Pegasus. (PTI)
Lok Sabha adjourned for the day amid uproar by opposition.
BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta said: "It seems that some people of Opposition, notably some of the TMC MPs, got up & took the paper from the hands of the Minister (IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw) and tore it up. This is completely unseemly behaviour."
"He was making a statement, you had a right to question him after that but instead of going in for a debate, is this the type of hooliganism we see inside the House? This is completely against all norms, I think it should be condemned out right," Dasgupta told ANI.