The debate on the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha took an unruly turn on Tuesday with the Treasury and the Opposition sparring over mentions of an under-probe businessman and two former PMs. After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Bill, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi began the debate, talking about demonetisation, poll bonds and taxing of the middle class. Then in reference to a businessman facing a probe abroad, Gogoi suggested the PM’s 'Ek Hai to Safe Hai' slogan was in context of shielding the businessman as he went on bagging projects in India and abroad. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal protested: “This is not a Congress gathering. He should be asked to authenticate his claims.” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “During discussion on a Bill, you are abusing the PM and take the name of a businessman… it brings down the level of the discussion. I request you to make your speech, but speak on the Bill.” TDP’s Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was then in the chair, allowed BJP’s Nishikant Dubey to speak, to which the Opposition protested. Dubey read Rule No. 94 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. He said during the discussion on a Bill, a “member …shall not refer to the details of the Bill further than is necessary for the purpose of arguments which shall be of a general character". Tenneti also read the same rule and asked Gogoi to restrict his speech to the Bill. Matters seemed to have been resolved before BJP’s Sambit Patra spoke. “The banking crisis was a legacy we got from them (Congress) in 2014. Atal ji had brought down NPAs to 7%. They took it to 12%, thanks to the phone banking system. Their leaders would tell banks over the phone to give loans to powerful people. And don’t bother about recovery. It is because of this phone banking that we had to suffer NPAs,” Patra said. He mentioned a case where a banker was called by a former PM to give a Rs 60-lakh loan to a certain person. The Congress protested and said this too was not part of the Bill but the chair had allowed Patra to speak. When the chair did not give in, saying “this discussion is about the Bill only”, Congress MPs began shouting slogans of “Chairman Hai Hai”. Meanwhile, the Opposition kept asking the chair to once again read Rule 94. DMK’s A Raja said, “Nishikant Dubey submitted before the chair that Gogoi is exceeding the limit beyond Rule No. 94. Now the honourable member (Patra) is talking about a member who is not in the House, making baseless allegations. Is that part of the Bill. And you are allowing this.” Following this, Rijiju said, “Patra has merely referred to an existing case. It is part of record.” As matters began heating up, Speaker Om Birla took the chair and allowed Congress’s K C Venugopal to speak for . Venugopal said, “While Sambit Patra was speaking, he crossed all limits.” He then went on to say that the leader Patra spoke about was a martyr and a former PM had compared her to a goddess after a war India had won. This led to protests from the treasury who gestured this was not true. Soon Sitharaman got up and said that while the Treasury respected the slain Congress leader, the fact a former PM had compared her to Goddess was “contentious” and so the former PM’s name must be removed from the records. The Speaker assured the House that he believed the names of former PMs should not go on record.
