‘Congress-Soros links’ repeatedly disrupts Rajya Sabha proceedings, while it’s Adani issue in Lok Sabha

“The link between Forum of Democratic Leaders in the Asia-Pacific (FDL-AP) and George Soros is a matter of concern. Its co-president is a member of this House,” he said, without naming Sonia Gandhi amid continued din and sloganeering. Nadda alleged that the FDL-AP sees Jammu & Kashmir as a “separate entity,” and gets financial support from the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

“This maligns India’s image and raises concern about the national security. People are concerned the way Congress is playing with national security. Therefore our members want a discussion,” he said.

Without taking the name of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Nadda alleged that the Congress leader goes abroad and speaks the language propagated by Soros and raises those matters back home that have been flagged by the Forum and their publications, thereby destabilising national security.

‘Soros wants to destabilise India’

Nadda said Soros wants to destabilise India as it has emerged as the world’s fifth-largest economy and is aiming to become a developed nation. “Congress is becoming a tool… Therefore, there should be a detailed discussion… This is a matter of internal and external security,” he said.

Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge rose to refute the allegations, but before he could speak, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked both Nadda and Kharge to meet him in his chamber to resolve the logjam. The Chair then adjourned the House till 3 pm. Refuting the allegations, Kharge accused the Leader of the House of “treason” and “working as agents of the Britishers”.

Later, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day amid uproar over the issue, with Chairman Dhankhar cautioning that “functioning of the deep state affects us more perniciously than the Covid disease”.

As the proceedings began on Monday morning, Dhankhar said he received 11 notices to raise issues under Rule 267, including one by MPs of the BJP-lead National Democratic Alliance (NDA), to discuss the “rising threats to national security due to alleged nexus between a political party and some organisations working against India”. Dhankhar rejected all the notices and proceeded with Zero Hour.

The treasury benches, however, continued to demand a discussion, disrupting the proceedings, leading to the House being adjourned till noon.

After the proceedings resumed, the treasury benches continued to raise the demand. Leader of the the House and Union Health Minister J P Nadda said the members wanted a discussion on recent reports of a political party’s links with “anti-India forces”. With Chairman Dhankhar calling on several ruling party MPs to speak, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh asked him about the rule under which they were allowed to raise their issue since their notice under Rule 267 had been rejected.

As the treasury benches continued to repeat their demand, the chairman adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

Amid uproar by treasury and opposition benches when the Upper House re-assembled at 3 pm after three adjournments earlier in the day, Dhankhar informed that a meeting was held in his chamber between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition.

“The purpose of that meeting was to ensure that the House runs smoothly. Both sides had a frank discussion and they signalled two things. One, that integrity, and sovereignty of the nation are sacred for us. We cannot allow any forces within the country or outside to sacrilege our unity, integrity and sovereignty,” he said, adding that the leaders have agreed to meet in his chamber again at 10.30 am on Tuesday. The meeting also had senior floor leaders from the Opposition, including Jairam Ramesh and Pramod Tiwari.

The chairman then appealed to all members to carefully consider the oath of the Constitution they have taken to ensure the integrity of the nation on a priority basis.

“Any challenge to the unity and integrity of the nation from within or outside requires all of us to offer a united challenge… It is a challenge to our very existence. We as a nation are committed to fighting the sinister forces, the forces that are inimical to India…a deep state that is evolving is required to be neutralised by all of us,” he said.

Dhankhar further appealed to members to share the sentiments of the 1.4 billion people at large who are extremely concerned that all divisive forces that have a sinister design to run down our democracy, to bring down our progress, to impede our economic upsurge have to be defeated.

He said the sentiment shared by the people has to emanate from the House, and at this critical moment when the country is facing such challenges, it must send a united voice so that these forces are defeated.

The Chairman cautioned that we cannot afford to overlook such evil designs, asserting that the “functioning of the deep state affects us more perniciously than the Covid disease”, before adjourning the Upper House for the day within merely seven minutes of it reconvening.

Adani issue, farmers’ stir rock Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha too saw repeated adjournments on the day. When the Lower House met at 11 am, Opposition members tried to raise the Gautam Adani issue – the billionaire is facing bribery charges in a US court – and the farmers’ protest, but Speaker Om Birla told them that the matters could not be raised during Question Hour, which was an important part of the proceedings. As the Opposition members continued to remain on their feet, Birla adjourned the House till noon.

The House met again at noon with Sandhya Ray as the Chair. She informed the House that the Speaker had rejected all the adjournment motion notices he received. However, interruptions by the Opposition members continued and she adjourned the House till 2 pm.

The House reconvened, only to be adjourned till 3 pm. The Opposition MPs had earlier protested over the Adani matter on the Parliament premises, with MPs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Samajwadi Party (SP) skipping the agitation.