8230;and an LS record: 8 Bills in 17 mins

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed as many as eight bills in a span of 17 minutes. This happened when there was a lot of din on the concluding day of the session in the House with the BJP and Shiv Sena demanding the sacking of Union Minority Minister Affairs Minister A R Antulay and the Left protesting the Bill on the insurance sector.

8220;So many important Bills were passed without any discussion. The Congress and BJP have killed democracy,8221; said CPM leader Basudeb Acharia. BJP MP Kiren Rijiju said 8220;the Congress tried to bulldoze the institution of Parliament.8221; Congress MP Bagun Sumbrui, who was first elected to the 6th Lok Sabha, said what happened in the House on Tuesday was 8220;unusual8221;.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi, however, said such things 8220;have happened in the past8221;. Ravi and Minister of State in the ministry V Narayanasamy stressed that the 8220;Opposition was responsible for the unruly scenes in the House8221;. 8220;The Opposition, not the Government, disowned the House,8221; added Ravi.

Former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C Kashyap agreed that there have been instances 8220;when a greater number of Bills have been passed on a given day in the House8221;. A former LS member said 8220;as many as 19 Bills were passed within a couple of hours on a single day in the 9th Lok Sabha8221;.