New Delhi: TMC MP Mahua Moitra joins suspended MPs in their protest at Parliament House during ongoing Monsoon Session, in New Delhi, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (PTI Photo)Parliament Monsoon Session Live News Updates: The ninth day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on Friday amid protests by the Opposition in both Houses. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned within minutes, as Opposition leaders continued to demand a discussion on the issue of price rise, GST and the Agnipath recruitment scheme.
Amid escalating tension, another three members of Rajya Sabha were suspended on Thursday for the rest of the week for alleged misconduct, taking the total number of Opposition MPs suspended from the Upper House this session to 23. Earlier this week, four Congress MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the current session. The suspension of 23 MPs over three days is the highest in the recent history of Parliament.
Deepening the divide in Parliament, already rocked by noisy protests and repeated adjournments, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi faced off Thursday, prompting the BJP and Congress to hurl accusations of “intimidation” and “heckling” at each other in the wake of a remark by Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury regarding President Droupadi Murmu. In an interview with The Indian Express, Congress leader Chowdhury that the Centre was using his recent ‘slip of tongue’ to “create a fuss only to divert people’s attention from issues such as back-breaking price-rise”.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 noon on Friday within minutes of commencement of proceedings due to opposition protests. As soon as the House met at 11 am, Congress MPs along with a few other opposition members came to the well of the House shouting slogans against the government. BJP women members, who were standing in the second row of the Treasury benches, too stood up and raised counter slogans. (PTI)
Rajya Sabha proceedings on Friday were adjourned for close to an hour after uproarious scenes by both opposition and Treasury benches over different issues. While the opposition parties pressed for a discussion on the hooch tragedy in Gujarat as well as the record rise in prices of essential commodities, BJP MPs were up on their feet shouting slogans seeking Congress president Sonia Gandhi's apology over her party leader's remarks on the President. (PTI)
Proceedings commenced in both Houses of Parliament promptly at 11 am on Friday morning amid protests by the Opposition. In the Rajya Sabha, Union Ministers are laying the papers on the table.
RJD MP Manoj Kumar gave a zero-hour notice in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of "mental healthcare in India."
Criticising the BJP for employing unfair tactics to avoid discussions on price rise, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that the saffron party continued to demand an apology from Sonia Gandhi over Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's controversial 'Rashtrapatni' remark, even though he had already said sorry. "They are doing this deliberately so that they don't have to discuss issues like price rise and inflation," he told ANI.
Congress MP K Suresh gave an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha over the "shocking attempt by BJP MPs including Minister Smriti Irani to threaten and intimidate" Congress President Sonia Gandhi, ANI reported.
Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda gave a suspension of business notice on Thursday over the Centre's Agnipath recruitment scheme, ANI reported.
Amid escalating tension in the Parliament, all members of the Congress Parliamentary Party are set to hold a meeting today, according to news agency ANI.
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On a day his remark, calling President Droupadi Murmu as “Rashtrapatni”, drew fresh battle line between the BJP and the Congress, the opposition party’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury tells MANOJ C.G. that it was a slip of tongue, and the ruling party is using it to “create a fuss only to divert people’s attention from issues such as back-breaking price-rise”.
Excerpts: You were in the eye of the storm today over your ‘Rashtrapatni’ remark for President Droupadi Murmu. Why did you say that?
The BJP has proved itself as a party that can make a mountain out of a molehill. On Wednesday, we had taken a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan, knowing well that we will be prevented from proceeding. For the last over one week, we have been seeking a discussion in Parliament over price-rise, ballooning unemployment, the Agnipath scheme, and misuse of investigative agencies to subjugate opposition parties. Read more.
Deepening the divide in Parliament, already rocked by noisy protests and repeated adjournments, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi faced off Thursday, prompting the BJP and Congress to hurl accusations of “intimidation” and “heckling” at each other in the wake of a remark by Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury regarding President Droupadi Murmu.
After a video clip of Chowdhury referring to Murmu as ‘Rashtrapatni’ did the rounds — he said it was “a slip of tongue” and he would apologise to the President because he “never meant to disrespect” her — the BJP, accused by the Opposition of “throttling democracy” by not allowing any discussion on GST rates and price rise, demanded that Sonia Gandhi, as chief of the Congress, apologise for her colleague’s remark.
While Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led the offensive against Sonia inside Rajya Sabha and outside Parliament House, Irani slammed the Congress in Lok Sabha. “Chowdhury’s comments were not a slip of tongue. It was a deliberate sexist insult against the President,” Sitharaman said in a brief statement in Rajya Sabha. Read more.
Escalating tensions in the House, another three members of Rajya Sabha — AAP’s Sushil Kumar Gupta and Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Assam independent member Ajit Kumar Bhuyan — were suspended Thursday for the rest of the week for alleged misconduct, taking the total number of Opposition MPs suspended from the Upper House this session to 23. Earlier this week, four Congress MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the current session.
The fresh action came even as suspended MPs continued sitting on dharna within Parliament House premises, accusing the government of “throttling the voice” of the Opposition. The suspension of 23 MPs over three days is the highest in the recent history of Parliament. Read more.
There was ruckus in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday (July 28) as the BJP took strong exception to Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury referring to President Droupadi Murmu as “Rashtrapatni”.
Although Chowdhury said he had made a mistake in using the word and that it was a slip of the tongue, the BJP, led by ministers Smriti Irani in Lok Sabha and Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha protested vociferously, and sought an apology from both Chowdhury and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Irani accused the Congress of being anti-Adivasi and anti-women for the alleged derogatory reference, and accused the party of “humiliating” the supreme commander of the armed forces. Read our Explainer
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Thursday condemned Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's ‘rashtrapatni’ remark terming it as an 'insult to the nation.'
'Indecent remark of Congress MP for President is condemnable. It's an insult to Constitution, women & tribal community. In a way, it's an insult to the nation too. I condemn the MP & Congress. They should apologise to citizens...' Yogi told ANI.
Several Opposition leaders on Thursday threw their weight behind Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was involved in a face-off with Union minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha.
While the Congress accused BJP MPs of subjecting Gandhi to “brutal heckling, verbal assault and physical intimidation”, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused Gandhi of speaking in a “threatening tone” with BJP members.
Tense scenes were witnessed in the Lok Sabha after the House proceedings were adjourned briefly over the ruling party’s protests against a remark made by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. After the House was adjourned, Sonia Gandhi walked up to the treasury benches side, amidst slogans seeking an apology from Chowdhury as well as herself. Irani had raised the issue in the House and sought an apology from Chowdhury for referring to President Droupadi Murmu as ‘Rashtrapatni’, which he said was done by mistake during a television interview. When the House was adjourned, Gandhi turned to leave. At the same time, BJP women MPs were shouting “Sonia Gandhi maafi mango”. Hearing this, Gandhi went up to talk to Rama Devi, a senior BJP MP and one of the presiding officers for the Lok Sabha. Apparently, Gandhi asked why her name was being dragged into the controversy. When Gandhi approached them, the BJP women MPs who were standing around Irani started shouting slogans “maafi mango”. Gandhi was seen saying something to Irani, who was then heard asking, “how can you talk to me like this and that she (Sonia Gandhi) is intimidating us,” Congress sources said. Read More
As many as 35 cases challenging central legislations and Constitutional Amendment Acts, including the one questioning the law penalising practice of instant triple talaq, are pending in the Supreme Court, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
He was asked about laws and Constitutional Amendment Acts passed by Parliament pending for judicial review in the Supreme Court from 2016. One of the cases mentioned by him includes the one filed by Samastha Kerala Jemiyyathul Ulama on the The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.
The pleas have alleged that the Act is unconstitutional, as it criminalises the “mere pronouncement of triple talaq, which had already been declared unconstitutional and void” by the Supreme Court. (PTI)
Rajya Sabha saw another washout of proceedings on Thursday with the Opposition protesting over the suspension of MPs and remaining adamant on its demand for a discussion on price rise and the Gujarat hooch tragedy.
The upper house witnessed four adjournments before proceedings were called off for the day. Earlier, the House adopted a motion to suspend three more members -- AAP's Sushil Kumar Gupta and Sandeep Kumar Pathak besides independent MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan -- for the rest of the week for "unruly behaviour".
When the Upper House reassembled at 4 pm after several adjournments, the proceedings got adjourned within three minutes, as members from Aam Aadmi Party and other opposition parties entered the well of the house and raised slogans and showed placards. (PTI)
The Opposition has chosen the entrance to the Parliament as its new protest site as it wants to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the promise he made when he entered the House for the first time in 2014, its leaders said Thursday.
The protests against the suspension of Opposition MPs started on Wednesday under the sky near the Gandhi statue.
"We want to remind Modi of the promise he made when he arrived on the first day. That is the place where he touched his forehead on the stairs. Also, since there was no tent, because of the rain, we had to move the agitation somewhere. This place was symbolic," said a leader. (PTI)
Parliament has been in gridlock for the past one week, with the Opposition and the government trading barbs over the suspension of Opposition MPs in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and a lack of discussion on issues as demanded by anti-BJP parties. As of Thursday, 23 Opposition MPs from the Rajya Sabha have been suspended till the end of the week and four Congress members of the Lok Sabha have been suspended for the rest of the Monsoon session.
The government has accused the Opposition of disrupting proceedings repeatedly over the years. But, not long ago, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power and it was the BJP, then in the Opposition, that justified the disruption of Parliament. At the time, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who was Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said that when Parliament “is used to ignore issues” then “obstruction of Parliament is in the favour of democracy”. He later claimed that there were “occasions when obstruction in Parliament brings greater benefits to the country”. Read more
TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday came out in support of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was involved in a face-off with Union minister Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha, and said the 75-year-old leader was 'encircled and heckled pack-wolf style'.
As the Lok Sabha adjourned soon after 12 noon, Gandhi walked across to the Treasury benches and sought to know from BJP member Rama Devi why she was dragged into the issue -- the BJP has demanded an apology from Gandhi over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury referring to President Droupadi Murmu as 'rashtrapatni'. Irani stepped in and was seen gesturing towards Gandhi and apparently protesting Chowdhury's remark. Gandhi at first tried to ignore Irani's protestations, but was soon seen gesturing towards the minister and speaking angrily.
In a tweet, Moitra said, 'Was in Lok Sabha when 75 year old lady senior leader encircled & heckled pack-wolf style when all she did was walk over & speak (masked) to another senior lady panel chairperson.' 'Disgusted to read BJP lies and false version in press,' the Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar in West Bengal said.
Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Thursday as furore continued over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury referring to President Droupadi Murmu as 'rashtrapatni'.
As the House resumed at 4 pm, MPs from both treasury and the Opposition were shouting. Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, who was on Chair, urged members to take their seats. As pandemonium continued, he adjourned the proceedings for the day.
Earlier in the day, when the House met at 11 am, BJP members were up on their feet demanding an apology from Congress president Sonia Gandhi over Chowdhury's remark. (PTI)