Both Houses of Parliament witnessed uproarious scenes on Wednesday over the no-trust notice against Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and the George Soros issue, leading to the Rajya Sabha being adjourned for the day and repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha. The Lower House functioned smoothly during Question Hour and Zero Hour until Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, made a remark alleging that the government was using US-based investor Soros as a “shield” to hide its “failures” in Manipur. “I rise to discuss the grave and humanitarian situation in Manipur. The entire state is in a humanitarian crisis. Instead of finding a solution, the government is sending paramilitary forces and enforcing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA),” Gogoi said, raising the issue of violence in Manipur during Zero Hour. “This is not addressing the cycle of violence. Extortion has become rampant, the economy shattered, basic public services are on the brink of collapse. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in the illegal trade of arms, drugs, and timber,” Gogoi added. “The impact on the lives of the ordinary people has been devastating — schools and colleges closed, thousands of students’ education at risk, and healthcare facilities are damaged or destroyed. Fear and uncertainty have gripped the population,” Gogoi further said. “The time for inaction is over. People of Manipur are suffering. They have only three questions in mind. The first question is when will the Prime Minister visit Manipur? The second question is when will the Minister of Home Affairs apprise the House that what will be taken to resolve the situation? The third is that this government, in order to hide their failures in Manipur, is using George Soros as a shield. To hide their failures…,” Gogoi said, drawing a strong reaction from the treasury benches. Criticising the Congress MP over his remarks, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the Manipur situation was being tackled at the highest level. "They [Congress] have to respond and let the nation know what connection is there between George Soros and all these internal disturbances. The Congress Party is responsible for the internal disturbances in the country and they are using the foreign forces.They have an extra set of tie-ups with foreign forces due to which the country is facing internal problems. The Congress Party is solely responsible for this situation. The Manipur situation is being tackled very adroitly at the highest level," Goyal said. "I would like to ask this to the Congress Party. When did your Prime Minister ever visit any of the North-Eastern states which were having a problem? When did their Prime Minister ever take interest in the problems in Assam, from where he was an Hon. Member? It is because the Congress Party is using George Soros and other international bodies that the country today is suffering… There are internal problems caused by the Congress Party’s association with George Soros-funded organisations. The Congress Party is solely responsible and it has to answer the nation. What is the connection with the leaders of the Congress Party? What is the nexus? It is due to which the Congress Party and George Soros-funded organisations like them are destabilising the Indian economy…," Goyal said. Nadda questions senior Congress leadership's links with Soros Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, J P Nadda, levied similar allegations against the Congress soon after the Upper House reassembled at noon following the day’s first adjournment. Nadda said that the senior Congress leadership’s links with Soros should be discussed in the House because it is a matter related to India’s sovereignty and security. He also alleged that the INDIA bloc’s allegations against Rajya Sabha chairman Dhankhar were a design to deviate from the issue. “In the last two days we have been raising the issue of the connection between George Soros and the senior leadership of the Congress. What is the relation between Sonia Gandhi and George Soros? This is the matter of the nation's internal and external security. This is also the matter of India's sovereignty. This is the question on the sovereignty of the country and the major opposition party and the relationship between George Soros should be discussed,” Nadda said in the Rajya Sabha. The Union minister alleged that Congress was becoming a “tool of external forces”. “Bringing a no-confidence motion against the Chair is a design to deviate the attention of the nation from the issue of the sovereignty of the country.It should be condemned by one and all. They have never respected the Chair,” Nadda said. After Nadda’s remarks and amid sloganeering by the Opposition, the House was adjourned for the day to meet on December 12. Earlier, as the Upper House convened at 11 am, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Congress over the no-trust motion against Dhankhar and said that if the Opposition attacks the dignity of the Chairman, “we will protect”. Rijiju said the son of a farmer has become the vice-president and the entire country has seen he has kept the dignity of the House. He also slammed the Opposition saying: “You have no right to be members if you can't respect the Chair. We have taken an oath to protect the sovereignty of the country,” he said. Later, in a post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh recalled the words of Vice-President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and hoped the present Rajya Sabha chairman followed his words. “May 16th 1952. It was the very first day of the Rajya Sabha. The Vice President of India and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, told the MPs: 'I belong to no party and that means I belong to every party in the House'. That is the essence of cool impartiality.” Opposition parties on Tuesday had given notice to move a motion to impeach Dhankhar over his alleged partisan role as the chairperson of the Upper House.
