30 mins of business: In RS, standoff over MPs’ suspension continues

The government stated it was unwilling to pass Bills in the Upper House amid a din. The Opposition leaders continued to protest the suspension, with the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge calling the move undemocratic.

The 12 MPs were suspended over the chaotic scenes witnessed in the House on the last day of the Monsoon Session.

On Tuesday, the House functioned for a total of around 30 minutes and was adjourned twice before being adjourned for the day.

In the morning, the House was adjourned just five minutes in as the Opposition began demanding the rollback of the suspension. “Your notice is under Rule 267. I have gone through it. I have not permitted,” Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said as he adjourned the House till 2 pm. Rule 267 allows for setting aside the day’s business with the consent of the Chairman to take up a separate issue listed.

When the House resumed at 2 pm, Deputy Chairman Harivansh gave the floor to Union Health Minister Mansukh Madaviya to move the motion to discuss and pass the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2021 and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020.

Kharge wanted to speak, but before he was given a chance, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav raised a Point of Order. He stated that according to Rule 237, a member must be in his or her place to speak.

Kharge complained that Yadav being allowed to raise a Point of Order before he had even spoken would set a “wrong precedent”. He said when the Leader of Opposition is given the chance to speak, ministers suddenly raise a Point of Order. “You listen, I am also talking legally, according to the rules. If there is a problem in what I have said, then you raise it. But they interject and start in the middle. This is undemocratic,” he said.

Kharge tried to bring up the “undemocratic suspension of the 12 members” when Harivansh cut him off.

The Deputy Chairman repeated that he would allow a Point of Order only if it was related to the Bills under discussion. Regarding the suspension, he said: “The Chairman has asked the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition to find a solution together.”

Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien then tried to raise another Point of Order. Harivansh asked him if it was related to the Bills, before allowing him to speak. But as soon as O’Brien referred to the rules related to the suspension of the members, the Deputy Chairperson moved on to the minister and adjourned the House till 3.

Similar scenes took place when the House resumed. Before Mandaviya could speak again, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi took the floor and said: “We don’t want to pass the Bills in the din. I request again, if they (the suspended MPs) are willing to apologise…”

Pointing to the protesting Opposition members, who were in the Well of the House, he said: “If they continue to behave like this, we have no option left. I request, let them apologise, the government is willing to promptly take it (the suspension) back.”

Mandaviya started speaking about the two Bills, but he was barely audible amid the slogans raised by the Opposition on issues related to farmers and the suspension of the MPs.

Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Manoj Jha raised another Point of Order after Mandaviya moved the motion to discuss the Bills. Jha, referring to Yadav’s interjection earlier, used the same rule to state that a member might be allowed to speak from elsewhere, “provided that the member is disabled by sickness or infirmity”, and added: “Here the entire House has sickness or infirmity.”

An annoyed Harivansh stood up and stated: “Point of order is not (a) privilege. I am listening to you, but it should be related to the Bills. Please do not raise other Points of Order in the guise of (Bills). My request is to both sides.”

DMK’s Tiruchi Siva said Joshi “said that he doesn’t want to pass the Bills in the din, provided we should all apologise. For the past three or four days, every minister has been levelling allegations against us.” But he, too, was cut off by Harivansh.

Biju Janata Dal’s Mamata Mohanta spoke in favour of the Bill for a few minutes before the House was adjourned for the day.

Leader of the Opposition Kharge told reporters that the government was responsible for the deadlock in the House. The Opposition vowed to continue its protest till the suspension of the 12 MPs is revoked. The opposition MPs will now sit on a day-long dharna with the suspended MPs.

“It seems the government’s intention is clear. It does not want to allow the House to function. Till the time their suspension is revoked, our fight will continue…We will not allow our voice to be throttled. This has no place in democracy and we will not allow any dictatorship. Modi ji wants to run Parliament with dictatorship. We will not allow this to happen,” he alleged.

“Today the government got the Rajya Sabha adjourned at 3 pm for the day because it did not want the lone Nagaland MP, K.G. Kenye, to speak on the horrific killings in his state. And the Rajya Sabha is the Council of States,” Congress chief whip Jairam Ramesh tweeted.